PS6 Will Go Modular With Optional Disc Drive – Report

The PlayStation 5 turns five years old in November, and talk about the yet-to-be-announced PS6 has begun picking up lately. One idea that the proposed successor console could reportedly adopt from the current PlayStation hardware generation is a detachable disc drive.

According to Insider Gaming, having a detachable disc drive will allow Sony to reduce production and shipping costs of the PS6. This is also seen as a way to protect the company during “uncertain times”, likely a reference to ongoing turbulence in the market brought on by US president Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Essentially, this will allow consumers to choose between either a PS6 with a disc drive–a more traditional option–or a cheaper digital model that they can later upgrade with the add-on. In comparison, the PS5 console first launched with either a built-in disc drive or an all-digital model, and people who bought the more affordable console had no option for upgrading at the time with an add-on accessory. This changed when the slimmer PS5 console revision was introduced, and last year’s launch of the PS5 Pro did not include a disc drive at all–although one can still be attached to it.

Several years into the current console generation, hardware has only gotten more expensive over time. In Europe, the PS5 Digital Edition has reportedly been hit with shrinkflation as the internal SSD is being reduced from 1TB to 825GB. Earlier this year, Sony announced price increases for Digital and Standard Edition PS5 consoles across Europe, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, and in August, the price of all PS5 console models in the US increased by $50 due to a “challenging economic environment” Sony said at the time.

One other thing that we do know about Sony’s next console is that the company will continue to rely on hardware over cloud technology. Back in June, Sony president and CEO Hideaki Nishino said that while cloud gaming continues to progress, consumers still prefer the “local execution” of games that comes from physical media or content downloaded directly to the console itself.