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Sony’s new PS5 heralds the end of disc drives

A photo of the disc drive on the PS5 “slim.”
A photo of the disc drive on the slim PS5. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Today may have marked the beginning of the end for game console disc drives. Sony finally announced the $699.99 PS5 Pro, and while it looks to be an impressive machine, it’s the first PlayStation console that will require you to buy the console and a separate disc drive if you want to play your physical games.

Sony’s offered disc-free variants before and inched in this direction with the PS5 “slim,” which you can buy with the separate disc drive already attached or add a disc drive to later. But with the PS5 Pro, you’ll have to get a separate PS5 disc drive, whether that means you buy it for $79.99 or swap a disc drive from a slim PS5 to a PS5 Pro.

Microsoft is clearly eyeing the discless direction with Xbox as well. The more affordable…

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