Still holding out on a PlayStation 5? Coming this holiday season, the PS5 Slim will feature an attachable Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive and a 1TB SSD. The new model is more than 30% smaller than the original PS5 and will effectively replace it once all the stock is gone. According to the official announcement on the PlayStation Blog, it reads:
Once inventory of the current PS5 model has sold out, the new PS5 will become the only model available.
The detachable disc drive will allow Digital Edition owners to later purchase a disc drive separately for $79.99, opening up the option to upgrade to the PS5 Slim later on. Expected to hit retailers later this year in November for the United States, the PS5 Slim will be $499.99 with the disc drive and the Digital Edition will be $449.99.
The PS5 Slim Is Finally Here
PlayStation are finding new ways to give their customers new options for purchasing their new console and the PS5 Slim can be a game changer. While gaming is headed towards a digital-only ecosystem, the detachable disc drive shows PlayStation is aware that some players may want to have discs available to play later down the road.
The PS5 Slim: Phasing Out The Original
PlayStation also announced the PS5 Slim will be replacing production of all PlayStation 5 models once all the current models are sold. The PS5 Slim will be the only model available in retailers when that happens.
They could be doing this because the new PS5 Slim still retails for $499.99, not discounted at a cheaper price because of its slim design. It’s likely because of the detachable disc drive where the extra costs come into play. It’s not cheap to have a disc drive, let alone one that detaches like the PS5 Slim.
In addition, the PS5 Slim Digital Edition is $50 ($449.99) more than the base model Digital Edition ($399.99). Players will be paying more for the PS5 Slim Digital Edition but at least they have the option to upgrade in the future if they wish to play disc games/movies in the future.
Physical media is still around for a reason and PlayStation is embracing that with the PS5 Slim. With the holiday season coming up and games such as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, there’s going to be plenty of players who want to play these on a shiny new PS5 Slim. Whether the holiday rush sells these consoles out or not, we’ll have to wait and see.
If PS5 Slim Digital Editions are only available when making the purchase or you can’t spare the $50 at the moment, you can always purchase the disc drive separately for $79.99. Expect the PS5 Slim to release later this year in November in the United States. Other places in the world such as Europe and Japan will receive the PS5 Slim in the following months.
What do you think of the new PS5 Slim? Are you planning to get it when it comes out? Let us know in the comments!
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