realcaseyrollinsThe $700 PS5 Pro doesn’t come with a disc drive
IcePeeThis is yet another nail in the coffin of physical media. Or, in other words games you actually own instead of long term lease.
It’s not like physical media makes any difference anyway these days.
Actual disk often gets just a glorified installer, and even if it includes the entire game you’re likely to have to activate it online anyway.
The “own your games” ship has sailed long ago, unless you only buy no-DRM and your own backups.
The difference is the price of buying discs vs. buying from a digital store that has no competitors.
I’ve bought almost exclusively second-hand discs for my PS5, because they’re like half the price for the exact same content.
Sadly it’ll probably be just a matter of time before those will be phased out as well, one way or another.
I got the disc version for used games too, but the sad truth is that where I live there isn’t really a market for used games.
Or, well, there is, but the prices on used discs are often barely below retail price, if you can even find a copy.