A couple of days ago, LetsGoDigital managed to get hold of another PlayStation related patent. This time, it seems Sony has listed an interesting cartridge device, but what is this thing's purpose? We already know the PS5 will have a 4K Blu-ray drive for physical media, so what exactly this cartridge is remains a mystery. Of course, that hasn't stopped the aforementioned site from doing some theorising, and it's come up with an interesting explanation for this odd bit of hardware.
The website suggests that PS5 users will be able to use these chips to upgrade the system storage of their next-gen console. In other words, you'll be able to buy these supplementary solid state drives -- SSDs -- to increase the amount of space available for game downloads, etc. This would be similar to the way you can upgrade your PS4's hard drive, but would make the process much more streamlined. Affording a little bit of credibility to this is the description of the device found in the patent filing itself. Translated from Portuguese, the document says: "Configuration applied to / in data recording and storage equipment".
The tech site also posits that, if Sony does make it so you can buy more storage with these SSD cartridges, the PS5 itself may only come with a modest amount of memory onboard. This could be a way for the platform holder to keep the initial cost of the PS5 to a minimum. Of course, early adopters are worried the next-gen machine will be expensive, but this method would reduce the price tag of the console itself, and make expandable storage an opt-in extra premium.
To be clear, all of this should be taken with a pinch of salt. While we think the theory is pretty solid, this is all mostly speculation from the fine folks at LetsGoDigital. It could be that the mysterious cartridge is for another purpose entirely, and that's even if it goes into production; a lot of patents never make it past this stage.
What do you think about this? Do you like the idea of upgrading your PS5's storage with these supposed SSD cartridges? Is this really what the patent is for, or will these cartridges have some other use? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
[source nl.letsgodigital.org, via nl.letsgodigital.org]
Comments 73
If true, it'll use proprietary SDD's that'll likely cost 3x what a standard SSD would cost? Has Sony learned NOTHING from the Vita's commercial failure.
If it is we will have another PS vita memory card price thing on our hands.
I wonder how this has been translated in Japan?
Probably "Half-Life 3 confirmed.."
@gamer89 Switch uses common SD cards, though. That was the complaint with the Vita and potentially with this. But then, just because the Vita had pricey memory cards, doesn't mean PS5 will at all. So if this is even a real thing - IF - let's wait and see on the pricing. Plus, it's unlikely to drop the option of installing external drives as the PS4 already does, if that's your preference.
If it turns out to be true, I don't Sony is looking to monetize it but rather to bring down the cost of the base PS5 and assuming that the specialized SSD solution may be running on a higher bandwidth.
I don't think it's good idea going for proptietary SSD standard. One of the advantages PS3 and PS4 had over Xboxes was that you could easily replace your storage drive with the most popular standard on the market. This stinks like the Vita memory cards.
it's an interesting idea but it does bring up memories of the PSVita and it's propitiatory storage and look how well that turned out, it's kind of hard to buy games for a system you can't afford more space for
I like the idea as long as the ssd didn't cost more than samsung evo 860 ssd. Samsung 860 ssd cost $174 for 1TB and $383 for 2TB, 4TB storage is a bit expensive at $1066.
Also the ps5 must have at least 1Tb internal ssd if the console cost $500, or 500GB internal storage if the console cost $400.
I've heard some say that the PS5 will still have a normal HDD for storage while the SSD is for cache. Can't say how likely that is though.
What if the cartridges are for storing downloaded games so they can be played on a different ps5 than the one they were downloaded for. So you can play your games on a friends ps5?
No more 500GB or 1TB models like the PS4, please. The PS5 needs to be at least 2TB I feel.
This is most likely false, but even if it would not be - they better not.
If this is true it will be like the vita and Sony ripping off consumers. Lets see if Sony have learned any lessons
Don't like this sound of this.
These are console loot boxes.
@verynaughtyboy Good thing Sony has allowed people to upgrade hard drives without voiding the warranty for a while now. The PS3 had a door on the side and the PS4 had one side pop off to get to the HDD.
Now, this solution is certainly something a lot easier than removing plastic bits off the case, but, as others have said, will it be economical?
It is fun to speculate but pointless to draw an opinion from a patent
@verynaughtyboy You can already swap HDDs in every PS4 without voiding warranty, they all have a special slot for doing so (PS3 and even some PS2 had those slots too).
@supergurr You can already do this with an external HDD, just have to login with your account.
Playstation 1 memory card style ssd would be amazing
I just want 6 months to pass so that we may get official info. I don't think I've ever was more excited for a new PlayStation.
It could be the case that Sony uses proprietary SSD's simply because they use a technique needed to speed up the PS5 that wouldn't work as efficiently with regular SSD's.
As long as they aren't like the ps vita memory cards that sony sold then they may not cost as much, let's hope!
@TowaHerschel7 good job overreacting over a rumour.
Looks like BETA and MemoryStick/VITA all over again....
Sony has a bad track record when it comes to proprietary devices that have much cheaper alternatives, but are blocked by the proprietary design.
120GB SSDs are like £17 but performance isn't all that good, for a decent 240GB you'll be looking at say £50 for a Samsung brand type or the MX500 by Crucial. This is a stupid idea games will be around 100Gb mark and that means a game per cartridge. But it could be Sony's answer to memory cards for save data like the old days of PS1 and 2 maybe save space by moving saves to an alternative storage device. USB 3.0 though would solve that issue
@TowaHerschel7 if they do that they haven't learnt and I love playstation but they do this and it's a tough sell.
@WanderingBullet very unlikely to happen. 2TB SSDs are around £250. That's half the price most people seem to be willing to pay for the PS5. Sony can hardly sink 50% of the pricing into the drive and then produce a powerful machine with the other 50%.
A hub system would be neccessary. I don't want to swap cartridges if I own more than one.
@TowaHerschel7 I just love the internet. You wrote "learned nothing". There are NO facts out there at all and you don't even write "would have learned".
@gamer89 Correct. I cannot believe to this day that Nintendo can just do whatever they want and the fanboys love it. The switch is BY FAR the most expensive console on the market if you play more than just 2-3 games. But obviously that's what a lot of switch owners just do.
@Eldritch Yeah, but if Sony sells a 500GB PS5 and people who want bigger storage upgrades to a 1TB and 2TB drive wouldn't that cost just as much?
Personally, I'd have no use for the stock drive so I'm essentially wasting money buying a new SSD.
So I was pretty much right last article about these being Zip discs.
How about Sony give us the choice of either physical or digital editions of the PS5 ? (one for the collectors off steel books (me) and one for the minamalists (my tight ass nephew) ???
Oh yeah, Zip Discs...Remember the Dreamcast Zip Drive anyone ?
While it's just speculation based on some sketchy patents, I would be a little concerned about the price of these devices should this ever materialise! The vita memory cards were also proprietary and Sony charged WAY too much for them, and I mean WAY, WAY, too much. I would be happy with the lower read/loading speeds of an external HD, but it seems like if Sony is going the SSD route, they may want you to buy into their technology (by the way....the ps4 didn't support external drives either for quite a while, that was introduced via a firmware update quite late on...after everyone praised the xbox one for doing so early on.) Mind, as I said, speculation. For all we know it could be a case to place your own brand/model/size of SSD in, and proprietary connections on the outside to correctly format/partition the drive once it's plugged in! This would be a much better idea!
(Sony...if you're reading.....you can have that one for free 😁😁👍)
@supergurr that would never happen. It would encourage piracy.
@Sanctanox You do realise you can buy cheap, off the shelf micro SD storage for the switch? I know that it's dearer per MB than a physical HD but not more expensive than an SSD (my 128gb card was an ultra fast samsung one for £17)
@themcnoisy In what way? The drives can be removed from the PS4 now, but it hasn't led to much in the way of piracy! That relies on decent security on the OS surely! The hard drive once formatted would only work on the machine it was formatted on.
@TowaHerschel7 you know nothing yet? you have the Gaul to type your far fetched comment on 0% facts!
Yeah I can see Sony shipping PS5 with 64gb ssd to keep the console price down, then sell these larger ssd’s to make more money as people need to expand...
@TowaHerschel7 it’s a bit early to say Sony have learnt nothing. We don’t even know if this is real or not yet let alone the price!
@Sanctanox I meant "HAS" Sony learned nothing". It was almost 4:00 AM when I commented. >_>
@David187 @TowaHerschel7 I forgot to say If true, gah I shouldn't comment before the roosters are awake.
@Sanctanox @David187 @hi_drnick I fixed my comment to be closer to what I actually meant. Sorry about that guys. >_>
@WanderingBullet I don't disagree. I'm in the same boat as you. So I'm hoping they'll have some PS5s at different price points for those of us who are going to be filling up those drives pretty quickly. But if they only release one model, to start, I don't see it having a large SSD unfortunately.
@TowaHerschel7 no worries 👍
That’s awesome news, maybe it will be a storage card that only works in the PS5 and traditional SSD/HHDs won’t work so that way we will not have a choice but to buy their extremely overpriced cards.
It was such a fantastic experience with the Vita.
@supergurr I like your thinking on this idea but I’m afraid it sounds like they could possibly doing the Vita proprietary storage thing that SUCKED!
@AdamNovice this is how I've been assuming the PS5 is going to work since it was revealed, otherwise expanding storage/replacing the internal storage will be next to impossible due to Sony's supposed proprietary SSD tech. It would require Sony to proprietary SSDs at an inflated cost which hasn't gone down well either of the time they attempted it. Vita memory cards were expensive as hell and Memory Stick Pro Duo with the PSP and it's cameras. Sony loves proprietary crap but it's really anti-consumer.
@Dodoo 64GB? Really? So you expect the PS5 to be capable of storing 1 game out of the box?
If so, it would be a very weird looking SSD. From what I know, SSDs need a SATA data and a SATA power. If they're going with a traditional design that is and by default it would make this not a cartridge.
Also, you guys do realize that if this is a cartridge, it'll be proprietary anyway, right?
'Report suggests'
Everything you find on the internet is 'reports' for gaming news
Someone makes a suggestion or say they hear stuff like that 'too" its called a report
@Callmegil
SATA is slow. PS5 will either use M.2 connectors, which allows for much faster transfer speeds. And even PCI-E 4.0 is a possibility. It will probably be a proprietary form factor SSD though. Which means it will be expensive!
@ZeroAbbadon not necessarily 64GB, I was just making the point they could ship the console with a low amount of storage and leave it up to users to buy what they want on top.
Might sound crazy but that’s the model Nintendo have used for a few consoles now and they don’t make any money off proprietary storage. I would expect Sony to make exclusive PS5 ssd’s if they followed suit, i.e they would make money from storage sales like they did on Vita.
Who knows I’m just guessing but at the end of the day with the high spec PS5 looks to have and with Sony saying it will be affordable, they’ve got to cut costs somewhere. Storage is the easy place to do that...
@JJ2 exactly! Gaming "journalism" is a joke. Then again, Pushsquare writers have said repeatedly that they don't see themselves as journalists, which is ... something I guess.
I don't care about a SSD. All I want is a 8Tb external 3.5". I would take more storage space over saving 20 seconds on a load screen any day of the week.
@TowaHerschel7
The original Wired reveal back in April where the Spider-Man loading times were shown off contains the following couple paragraphs:
"Solid-state drives have been available in budget laptops for more than a decade, and the Xbox One and PS4 both offer external SSDs that claim to improve load times. But not all SSDs are created alike. As Cerny points out, “I have an SSD in my laptop, and when I want to change from Excel to Word I can wait 15 seconds.” What’s built into Sony’s next-gen console is something a little more specialized.
[...]
At the moment, Sony won’t cop to exact details about the SSD—who makes it, whether it utilizes the new PCIe 4.0 standard—but Cerny claims that it has a raw bandwidth higher than any SSD available for PCs. That’s not all. “The raw read speed is important,“ Cerny says, “but so are the details of the I/O [input-output] mechanisms and the software stack that we put on top of them. I got a PlayStation 4 Pro and then I put in a SSD that cost as much as the PlayStation 4 Pro—it might be one-third faster." As opposed to 19 times faster for the next-gen console, judging from the fast-travel demo."
Not sure what people were expecting, because the point being made in the last couple sentences is absolutely correct. Simply using an off-the-shelf SSD will definitely NOT give you the improvement in speed that's been observed. And we know that Sony intends such blistering read speed to allow developers to do much more than simply reduce loading times, which is why they're necessitating that games be installed to it... if they succeed in this ambition and the speed really does get used in ways that makes it fundamentally necessary for actual gameplay to work as the developers intended, then you obviously can't have some players running the game off an HDD (or worse, optical media), but even trying to run a game off an off-the-shelf SSD could potentially make some games literally unplayable.
So putting two and two together, it seemed obvious from day one that if the SSD they were using was really going to be anywhere near as fast as they claimed, there's only two(-ish) ways the expandable storage could pan out. Either:
1a) The main storage was only going to be expandable with a proprietary type of SSD, which would obviously be patented.
1b) Still a proprietary format, but they could possibly license the technology out for wider adoption, allowing other companies to make them too (though they'd have to strongly enforce minimum performance specs) and potentially even making them available for use in PCs and notebooks as well. The viability of this depends on what exactly makes the drives so much faster with the PS5, but regardless, you're still going to see same patents as you would with 1a.
2) The main storage was never going to be expandable at all.
This particular patent may end up having nothing to do with th PS5's storage. For all we know it could be for something like a portable version of PS4 or PS5 games. Either way though, I don't know about you, but given the choice, I'd rather have the ability to choose to expand the PS5's main storage with a proprietary SSD than have no choice at all. I'd prefer option 1b, but this depends on a few things, not least of which is that what makes the proprietary format faster for a PS5 will be legitimately just as useful for PCs as well. But since it's actually possible it may not be, it might not end up making sense as a wider SSD standard, in which case option 1a would still be better than not having any choice at all.
I think it's kind of silly to suggest Sony's gaming division didn't learn anything from past issues with all their proprietary formats. Hell, in terms of increasing external storage, the PS4 went out of its way to make swapping the drive out for a larger one of your choice as easy as possible. And that was obviously a very deliberate choice when you compare it to the that to the XB1, where you pretty much need to jump through hoops totally dismantling the console and cloning the drive to do it because they didn't really want you to. By all accounts, Sony wants to make adoption of the PS5 as frictionless as possible in order to PS4 owners moving up to a PS5 at an unprecedented rate, shooting for things like as much backward compatibility as possible and going with such a big jump in specs compared to what anybody really expected that you pretty much have to expect that the the PS5 will be being sold, at least initially, at a loss (though with Sony selling not only games but making money through a bunch of subscription services as well, pushing a console on which they lose money on every unit sold makes a lot more sense than it did in the past). Bottom line is that it's hard to imagine Sony needlessly going with proprietary storage simply to make a bit of money forcing PS5 owners who want to expand their storage to buy a proprietary format – for one, this is a lesson they've already demonstrated they've learned, but they're also well aware that any drastic missteps will be immediately taken advantage of by Microsoft, and that, especially with the way consoles are no longer just machines that boot up games but are now major ecosystems that are very socially-oriented as well, it's more important than ever that they keep the momentum of their current success going without a hitch. Because if they alienate users with stuff like needless proprietary BS, the vast majority of people who decide to go from a PS4 to a next-gen Xbox (let's call it XB2) in the first year or so are not only going to be locking themselves into the XB2 ecosystem for the next 7+ years and probably not even getting a PS5 at all, but they're also likely going to take their friend groups with them! There's no way they're going to risk going from the second-best selling console of all time to giving Microsoft all that marketshare due to BS like nickle-and-diming gamers with overpriced, needlessly proprietary storage expansion, especially after only having gotten to that position clawing their way back from the relative flop that was the PS3 immediately after the generation where they had the best-selling console ever made (the PS2).
It shouldn't be too hard to tell their intentions once we have all the details. If I'm right, the PS5 will still allow you to hook up most HDDs and SSDs of your choice externally in the exact same way that PS4s do (though maybe USB-C rather than USB 3.0), expect for one key difference: you won't be able to play installed games directly off of the external drive like we're currently able to. It already seems like a sure thing that we won't be able to play games right off am external drive, but hopefully Sony will compensate for that (as well the lower overall storage space we WILL be able to run installed games from) by adding a feature that lets us swap installed games between internal and external storage. No need to download games again, or install them from disc again, or even to install them at all... I'm talking about game files that are already installed and merely need to be moved to the internal storage to be played, but can be transferred to an external drive to make room on the internal when you're not playing it. In their installed form, they could even be automatically kept up to date with patches like installed games normally do. Yeah, I'd rather have a 4GB internal drive where I wouldn't have to mess around with stuff like that in the first place, but if the PS5 truly does end up containing an SSD faster than anything availablle for PCs, I don't mind the compromise of being able to store fewer games on the internal drive, ESPECIALLY if I can swap install files in the way I just described. To be clear though, that's not something I've even heard hinted at by Sony, it just makes way too much sense for them to not have given such a feature serious thought when you consider the LOWER amount of storage available for installed games that we're almost definitely going to see, which is pretty unusual when you're talking about moving to a next-gen console, and kind of a major burden for players if we have to deal with this lower amount of space by downloading and/or installing a game from disc and fully re-patching every single time we want to play something not already installed on the internal drive. But if I'm just completely wrong about all of this and Sony really IS going with a totally unnecessary proprietary format for expanding the system's storage simply to profit off of the overpriced sale of these drives/cartridges, then we won't see any of what I just mentioned. Because in that case, letting you use any external HDD or SSD you want for doing everything other than directly running games off of would significantly cut into those sales as well, and if they're going to risk losing marketshare by alienating their users with needlessly propietary stuff anyway – especially something as critically important and as widely (and fairly cheaply, these days) available in various standards as storage happens to be – they might as well go all the way. No point in losing revenue by pissing off potential PS5 owners with your own artificial monopoly if you're also going to lose further potential revenue by not actually exploiting that monopoly to any real extent. But I'd bet pretty significant money that's not how it's going to work out. Sony hasn't really given any actual indication, but it should be pretty safe to assume that external HDDs and SSDs will still work like they do with the PS4, and let you do pretty much anything you could do before... in fact maybe even literally so, as backward compatibility is an important focus for them, and unlike their ambitions for PS5 games, there's no technical reason that any PS4 game would NEED to be installed on the internal SSD. After all, every single PS4 game is already fully able to be run directly from an install on a USB 3.0 external drive, even a 5400rpm HDD with no separate power source.
And yet, even with the best intentions, it could still kind of end up being needlessly proprietary. Because for all the ambition they have in how such unprecedented storage speeds could enable totally new things in gameplay that had just literally not been possible up until now, developers are still going to have to come up with these things in actual practice, using this speed to contribute to such a superior gaming experience that it very clearly demonstrates to gamers that forcing people to use a proprietary storage format was the obviously correct choice. Which might be easier said than done. Again, simply cutting down on loading times won't suffice, because, as nice as it is to virtually do away with them altogether, there's no reason a person shouldn't have the CHOICE of using their own cheaper and larger drives at the cost of having longer loading times, no matter how significant they might be; to be able to actually justify Sony forcing the use of their own storage, devs will have to push the propietary storage speeds to the limit during gameplay, creating experiences that wouldn't be possible with the game reading from a slower drive in real-time. And a game designed like that wouldn't really be able to be ported to a next-gen XBox unless Microsoft does something similar, or to most (if not all) PCs, without fundamentally altering these parts of the game, so most devs are not particularly likely to even bother attempting using such fast storage to its fullest capability.
So I guess we'll have to just wait and see what devs will do with the capability. Consoles are all about simplifying through standardization. Unlike with a PC, devs know exactly what kind of CPU, GPU, and RAM architecture and performance they'll be working with, and they can design their games to fit within those limitations, but it also allows devs to maximize graphics quality and performance within those limitations. But storage performance has been utter crap for so long, and unlike the rest of the components, hasn't really been a part of that standardization with modern consoles. Even as SSDs came out and HDDs got even just somewhat better, devs essentially had to work with the assumption of a fairly crappy HDD for everyone. IIRC, one of the Wired articles even talks about some tricks they've used to maximize the performance of HDDs, like some identical pieces of (high demand) data being copied and stored hundreds of times within a game's files, keeping them right next to other pieces of data that might be needed at the same time, all in order to minimize any seeking done by the HDD. And yet, while console games have been designed to a single standard spec for all other components, allowing devs to be totally okay with games even not being able to run at all on lower specs (since a standard PS4 with lower specs than the standardized PS4 specs they expect won't actually exist), they've never been able to say the same for an SSD. Are there even any PC games that are designed for SSDs at an absolute minimum? So treating the storage like everything else and standardizing it to a high performance component rather than the lowest common denominator could be massively liberating for developers. But Sony seems to be going even further than just standardizing to the spec of an average off-the-shelf SSD, going from barely any requirements at all for the drive's performance to something (supposedly) faster than anybody has ever really previously gamed with. There's massively exciting potential, and yet it might even end up having been excessive if the only games that even try to make full use of it are a handful of first-party exclusives. It might seem like "just" storage and hard to envision how much of a significant difference it could make in games outside of loading times, but really, that's only because up until now, games have ALWAYS been developed with the necessity of being able to run pretty flawlessly on (or on the equivalent of) at least a mediocre HDD. This is something that's actually so unprecedented that it's hard to predict how much better games will be as a result of it, and the most creative and successful ways its full capabilities might be put to use. But ultimately, having a console standardized to such high specs truly across the board this time is really exciting, and if it means having using a proprietary storage format to run installed games off of in order to ensure games can be designed to such a high spec, then I'm more than happy to deal with that compromise, especially if Sony could create a way to keep excess game installs on an external HDD/SSD that can be swapped onto the internal storage to be played. And while I think it'd be such a bad decision on their part that it's just extremely unlikely, getting rid of external HDD/SSD support altogether would in all likelihood be a dealbreaker for me, because that's when it becomes obvious nickle-and-diming that clearly has absolutely nothing to do with improving the gaming experience.
@naruball
I don t take it too seriously. The latest re translated translation of retranslated Kojima 'report' gave me a good laugh.
Also I blame PushSquare not allowing short comments for the wall of text above hahaha
If you want a faster SSD than the one available on PC , you will need a special costume proprietary SSD made by SONY. IT will not be cheap, but i bet it will not be expensive either like Vita was. Also PS5 will probably already has internal memory unlike Vita , and remember PS5 is their main product that they will not trying to make it bad. They already promise to make PS4 gamer buy PS5 fastly as possible.
Most people are reading this wrong, PS5 will have a traditional storage device for its main storage. It may spinning or solid state but it will be cheap and slow. Then they will have a small but super fast cache, most likely based on PCIe4 nve drives. AMD already ship the software for free with their x470 and X570 motherboards for this form of acceleration of windows. It's right their in front of everyone. These plugins could be m.2 drives but PCIe 4 drives need more cooling than that form factor would allow.
@TowaHerschel7 yeah so in other words the ssd storage will be propriety and will be just as expensive as the vita memory cards will be, bravo sony, bravo indeed.
No consumer choice to buy cheaper alternatives, what could possibly go wrong? 🙄
Everybody here is speculating or complaining I just like how the mock ups look like PS2 memory cards
I really miss those
@huyi
LOL. Guess what , if you want a slow SSD that available on the market they could give you that, but you will complain again. What are they trying to do is to standardize the SSD to match up their requirement. Next gen is all about super fast SSD without loading time. It will be impossible for game developer to build games if there is no standard SSD . Developer will just make games for slower SSD (they will assume some gamer will use slow SSD) that will defeat the purpose of next gen improvement that we wanted. And also it's not guarantee that this cartridge will be expensive.
I'm not a techhie, that's why i like consoles, I plug in and play, so if this saves me wasting time trying to find which external hard drives are compatible for my PS, then it's a good thing. The size of games on the PS4 ate up the supplied memory very quickly. From Sony's point of view it makes sense, because it can be another revenue earner, which will be good for the chances of seeing a PS6 in 10 years time. Not so good news for the likes of Seagate. Not everyone has the luxury of stable broadband for streaming to reduce memory needs.
@AdamNovice From a cost perspective, a hybrid approach would be best. I rather they put most of the cost on the cpu/gpu/ram, as that can NEVER be updated without buying a newer system (ala ps5 pro) and let us upgrade the storage later. Does it make sense to use up expensive SSD storage for video clips? It would require PS5 games to be designed to allow for part of it to be on faster storage. Then either SSD can be a requirement for the game or if not, then the user can choose to let the game decide or have the user override the defaults. Also, perhaps having a HDD is needed for PS4 compatibility.
Maybe many years later, SSD will be very cheap and so users can pop in a 4TB SSD and migrate everything to it.
@Vriess That makes more sense. Sometimes, you can't afford to have custom SSDs on your system. They can have their own SSD and still give options for external.... HANG ON, would Sony even allow their console to be modular to that level, though? As in, letting people open up their system to replace an SSD that is connected with a M.2 connector?
@kyleforrester87 Still there is no cheap 2TB SSD so i still would like too see before i how expensive it is.
@WanderingBullet I agree but that would be a bit expensive........
For a second I thought these cartridges would work in conjunction with the internal ssd to give us those super fast load times? Or are they next gen throwbacks to ps1 memory cards? But yeah, don’t price them too high Sony! The cheaper they can be, the more the people will buy them silly!
@Callmegil
I mean, in principle they're obviously fine with that kind of modularity. The PS4 is already designed to do exactly what you're describing. Unlike the XB1 which you need to take completely apart (and go through the hassle of cloning the drive too) just to swap the internal hard drive, the PS4 is literally designed with a little hatch to allow users to easily take out the 2.5" HDD and replace it with another 2.5" SATA drive, whether it's another HDD or even an SSD.
However... this might not be viable with the PS5. If they're going to go with a proprietary SSD for the sake of maximizing performance, the whole point of doing so is to provide a COMPLETELY standardized system which allows developers to be confident they can take full advantage of all of its capabilities. If the PS5 allows off-the-shelf drives to be used as well, then developers are suddenly required to make sure their games still perform well on storage that might be significantly slower, because developers aren't going to want to make a game for the PS5 that will only work on some of them. Not to mention it'd be totally unacceptable for somebody to buy a game only to find out it can't be played on their PS5. So it would result in developers simply NEVER designing their games to take full advantage of the performance offered by the proprietary drive. And if that's going to be the case, then there's just no longer going to be any reason for Sony to be using a proprietary SSD in the first place. Why would ANYBODY want to pay extra for a super high-performance drive that not a single developer is going to ever be able to justify making use of?
So the fact they're going with some sort of proprietary storage at all pretty much ensures that they're not going to let you run PS5 games off of any other kind of drive. I'm sure external drives will still be supported though, as it will make way more sense to use it for backward compatible PS4 games rather than needlessly using up space on the really fast drive. And ideally we'll be able to use that external storage to move PS5 games on and off the proprietary SSD as needed, instead of having to redownload/re-install from disc every single time.
Had they just decided to go with a simple m.2 internal drive in the first place, then in all likelihood they'd have designed the PS5 to have the sort of modularity you're talking about, allowing users to swap m.2 drives just as easily as the PS4 currently allows you to do so with SATA drives. But given that they've apparently decided to standardize the system around an SSD that should even be significantly faster, there's almost no chance of that unless for some reason they decide to include a slot for you to add an ADDITIONAL internal drive (though again, not to run PS5 games off of), which is still extremely unlikely, even if the much smaller footprint of m.2 drives means it might not be completely out of the question this time around.
@Callmegil
To make the way too long answers you got a lot shorter. Sony are not limited to standard PC motherbord designs. If they want a removable SSD with M.2 or PCI-E 4.0 connector accessible to consumers, then they can easily do so. Look how easy it was to add / replace the hard drive of the PS3 Ultra Slim. All it took was removing one screw and a tray.
Personally I hope the PS5 will support external storage though USB 3.1
We have no idea how big or otherwise these things are and LetsGoDigital plastering mock-ups with their name and "SSD" with varying sizes proves nothing!
For all we know, these could be a new memory card type (a la PS1/2) that allows a user to save game data and login info so you can take your memory card to a mate's house and login with your credentials on their PS5 and continue from your saved position.
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