PS5 Slim announced. External blu ray drive for digital edition announced.

The details

It looks better than the current model but since it's the same power level I have no interest (because I already have one.) Seems like some people who held off because of the massive size of the current one might go for it though.

No price cut.

Certainly looks like a nice improvement to the base model. It's been three years though, there should be a price cut. I get that there has been inflation and supply chain issues, but those have largely calmed down for PC components. Hard to believe Sony wasn't able to leverage better deals from their partners here.

@judaspete: They added a bit more storage, which could sort of be seen as a price cut or at least feature add, though at this point PS5 storage is pretty cheap (you can get 2 TB for under $100).

I just don't think there's a lot of downward pressure on price. Both companies have run a few promotions recently (like a free game with purchase) that act as effective price cuts but can be modulated up and down when necessary.

My guess is they see if the slim juices demand from people who hated the OG form factor and if sales are sluggish (And they've been a bit slower recently) then they can cut the price, or run additional incentive programs.

The lack of a price drop is such typical sony bullshit

@sombre: They went above and beyond though because the digital edition actually increased in price by $50 (albeit with a bit more storage.)

Also if you want a vertical stand it's $30 though you will get a horizontal stand FOR FREE!!!!!!

<Jim Ryan making the 'inflation' signal with his fingers>

The situation is likely going to get worse over time. Right now Sony is raising the price of all PlayStation 5 peripherals and devices, including controllers, in Japan. It is only a matter of time when they roll out these price increases worldwide.

Man I’m pretty bummed with Sony’s behavior recently regarding pricing. I guess there’s some parallels that can be drawn between ps4 era sony == ps2 era “good guy” sony, whereas ps5 era == ps3 era “we’re king of the world” sony.

i'm not sure who is served by the all-digital SKU- $50 remains fifty dollars- but it seems like spend the extra dosh to at least goose the resale value. Sony probably feels empowered to do some goofy stuff on that SKU since the disc model apparently massively outsold the digital (to wit- i think the $500 SKU effectively is unchanged except SSD capacity, right?).

also that selling the stand for an additional $30 is some real Apple nonsense, but i wonder if you can't just stand the thing up anyway. i'd be curious to know how many folks go tallboy vs. flatboy.

@mellotronrules:

Tallboy here. Briefly went flatboy during that “upright causes overheating” scare, but went back because it just takes up too much space in my setup when horizontal

Form-factor is super important for a portable, but to me a console is just something that sits on my entertainment stand. I don't care what it looks like or how big it is as long as I can fit it in somehow.

No thanks I like mine thickkkkkk

Not having the option to add a drive to the old digital PS5 sucks. I likely wouldn't have gotten it anyway, but still.

That disc drive version might be the ugliest console I've ever seen.

Crazy to think that last gen they released the slim in September 2016, then the Pro model only 2 months later. Obviously that's not going to happen this time but I wonder if they'll wait till next fall or push it out in the spring, if its a thing. I could see Sony doing like Nintendo and just riding the current specs until its clear that it isn't selling a ton. Personally, I would 100% buy a Pro model.

Jeez. That's not great. I prefer the Sony controllers to Microsoft's for various reasons but if the DualSense goes up in price any more here in Canada, it'll cost almost twice what you can get an Xbox controller for when they're on sale (which is like once or twice a month). Between that and Microsoft making it so you can buy replacements for broken parts on the Xbox controllers while the DualSense is almost impossible to repair, it gets hard to justify buying a DualSense unless you have a Playstation 5.

I just bought a new DualShock 4 for my PC so I'm good for a while. But still.

To me, it’s an okay looking console.