From an opinion piece on GamesIndustry.biz concerning the not too long ago launched PS5 Professional that went on sale this week: What I would argue is definitely extra attention-grabbing about PS5 Professional in a wider perspective is not what Sony has finished to the chips within the system — it is what they’ve chosen to not embody, and what it tells us concerning the decision-making course of that is probably occurring for the corporate’s future {hardware}. PS5 Professional does not have a disc drive. Anybody who desires to play disc-based video games on the system might want to purchase one of many add-on drives Sony began promoting when the PS5 Slim mannequin was launched, including additional to the price of the already very costly machine.
So as to add insult to damage, Sony does not appear to have made any effort in any respect to make sure that these drives are literally well-stocked for the launch of the Professional. I can solely communicate on to the state of affairs in Japan, the place they have been out of inventory at most main retailers for months and even second-hand items are being bought at three to 4 instances SRP by scalpers. However asking round means that the state of affairs is not significantly better in different areas. That is a really tough welcome to PS5 Professional possession for anybody upgrading who has a set of video games on disc.
It is potential, in fact, that Sony excluded the drive just because its value would push the Professional’s price ticket even larger. Nevertheless, the incongruity of Sony’s “Professional” console missing the essential capability to play the video games Sony sells at retailers all world wide is putting, and it is troublesome to see the choice to simply accept that incongruity — and the inconvenience it could inevitably trigger for purchasers — as something apart from strategic.
Digital gross sales make up a much bigger and greater portion of the business’s revenues yearly, however bodily recreation gross sales are nonetheless a really massive deal — and bodily video games are merchandise that fall outdoors the management of publishers and platform holders in a manner that they’ve discovered more and more irritating in recent times. Individuals who purchase bodily video games can promote them second-hand or lend them to their associates, retailers with bodily video games in inventory can low cost them or embody them in bundles as they see match.
