Not Solely Is the New PlayStation 5 Extra Costly, It’s Additionally Worse

5 years into the console’s life cycle, the most recent PlayStation 5 is more expensive than ever. If that wasn’t sufficient, Sony is now providing clients much less bang for his or her buck than if they’d purchased the {hardware} just some months in the past. The model of the PlayStation 5 with out a disc drive prices $500 and has far much less inside storage than earlier than. It’s such a giant downgrade; you’re higher off attempting to find an older or used console in the event you hoped to play Ghost of Yotei earlier than the tip of the 12 months.

Earlier this month, Sony started shipping a 500-euro model of the slim PS5 with much less storage—825GB—than the earlier slim model’s 1TB to Europe. With the usual storage necessities for the system’s working system, which means the brand new system solely has 667GB so that you can obtain your video games to. It didn’t take lengthy for that model to make its strategy to the U.S. The PlayStation Direct on-line retailer now sells the $500 “PlayStation 5 Digital Version Console – 825GB.” It’s the identical quantity that shipped with the unique PS5 in 2020. The PlayStation 5 with a disc drive nonetheless comes with 1TB of storage and calls for $550 out of your pockets. The PlayStation 5 Pro comes with 2TB of storage however now prices $750 after the current worth hikes.

New PlayStation 5 Mannequin Modifications:

-Mannequin CFI-2116

-825 GB, Much less Storage, 667.2 GB Useable Identical As Launch PS5

-All Matte Console

-USB Colors On The Again Now Blue

-2,433 Grams In contrast To The two,556 Grams Of The 2000 Mannequin, 3,800 Grams Of Launch PS5

-Heatsink Construction Has… https://t.co/Natbq8NiUm pic.twitter.com/OLhKthpOTA

— @Zuby_Tech (@Zuby_Tech) September 29, 2025

Gizmodo reached out to Sony for touch upon the swap to the older storage choice, however we didn’t instantly hear again. Anyone who has tried to wrangle a number of digital video games on their system is aware of how briskly 667GB of storage will get eaten up by storage-hungry video games. Much less storage solely means gamers might want to exit and spend much more cash on new SSD upgrades they should set up themselves. (Admittedly, that’s an easy course of.)

This isn’t how issues are speculated to unfurl. Gaming and computing {hardware} usually cheapens over time. Within the case of Sony’s gaming model, consoles additionally enhance over time. {Hardware} aficionados have made a recreation of opening up new PlayStation 5 consoles over time to see how Sony has minimized excesses and improved thermals. For instance, the CFI-12XX version of the non-slim PS5 from 2022 was considerably lighter than the 2020 version. It sports activities a brand new heatsink and lighter cooling followers to assist scale back weight. The most recent model clocks in at 2,433g, or about 5.3 kilos. That’s round 100g lighter than earlier than. Sony didn’t contact the SoC, or system on a chip. It’s getting the identical energy draw as earlier than and can be virtually equal in efficiency in comparison with earlier editions. The one beauty change is the black plastic between the 2 white plates is matte as a substitute of shiny.

This can be a dangerous time to attempt to get into gaming. Final month, Xbox hiked prices for its Xbox Sequence S and X consoles for the second time in a 12 months. Now, a brand-new Sequence X with a disc drive prices $650. The digital-only model asks for $600, however not less than it comes with the complete 1TB of storage. Final week, Xbox raised the price of its Recreation Cross Final subscription to $30 a month, or $360 a 12 months. Whereas Netflix and different streaming providers have trained consumers to count on subscriptions to get costlier and worse with time, Sony is setting us as much as anticipate the identical with {hardware}.