Five years into the console’s life cycle, the latest PlayStation 5 is more expensive than ever. If that wasn’t enough, Sony is now offering customers less bang for their buck than if they had bought the hardware just a few months ago. The version of the PlayStation 5 without a disc drive costs $500 and has far less internal storage than before. It’s such a big downgrade; you’re better off hunting for an older or used console if you hoped to play Ghost of Yotei before the end of the year.
Earlier this month, Sony started shipping a 500-euro version of the slim PS5 with less storage—825GB—than the previous slim version’s 1TB to Europe. With the standard storage requirements for the system’s operating system, that means the new system only has 667GB for you to download your games to. It didn’t take long for that version to make its way to the U.S. The PlayStation Direct online store now sells the $500 “PlayStation 5 Digital Edition Console – 825GB.” It’s the same amount that shipped with the original PS5 in 2020. The PlayStation 5 with a disc drive still comes with 1TB of storage and demands $550 from your wallet. The PlayStation 5 Pro comes with 2TB of storage but now costs $750 after the recent price hikes.
New PlayStation 5 Model Changes:
-Model CFI-2116
-825 GB, Less Storage, 667.2 GB Useable Same As Launch PS5
-All Matte Console
-USB Colours On The Back Now Blue
-2,433 Grams Compared To The 2,556 Grams Of The 2000 Model, 3,800 Grams Of Launch PS5
-Heatsink Structure Has… https://t.co/Natbq8NiUm pic.twitter.com/OLhKthpOTA
— @Zuby_Tech (@Zuby_Tech) September 29, 2025
Gizmodo reached out to Sony for comment on the switch to the older storage option, but we did not immediately hear back. Anybody who has tried to wrangle multiple digital games on their system knows how fast 667GB of storage will get eaten up by storage-hungry games. Less storage only means players will need to go out and spend even more money on new SSD upgrades they need to install themselves. (Admittedly, that’s a very easy process.)
This is not how things are supposed to unfurl. Gaming and computing hardware normally cheapens over time. In the case of Sony’s gaming brand, consoles also improve over time. Hardware aficionados have made a game of opening up new PlayStation 5 consoles over the years to see how Sony has minimized excesses and improved thermals. For example, the CFI-12XX version of the non-slim PS5 from 2022 was significantly lighter than the 2020 edition. It sports a new heatsink and lighter cooling fans to help reduce weight. The latest version clocks in at 2,433g, or about 5.3 pounds. That’s around 100g lighter than before. Sony didn’t touch the SoC, or system on a chip. It’s getting the same power draw as before and will be practically equivalent in performance compared to previous editions. The only cosmetic change is the black plastic between the two white plates is matte instead of glossy.
This is a bad time to try and get into gaming. Last month, Xbox hiked prices for its Xbox Series S and X consoles for the second time in a year. Now, a brand-new Series X with a disc drive costs $650. The digital-only version asks for $600, but at least it comes with the full 1TB of storage. Last week, Xbox raised the price of its Game Pass Ultimate subscription to $30 a month, or $360 a year. While Netflix and other streaming services have trained consumers to expect subscriptions to get more expensive and worse with time, Sony is setting us up to anticipate the same with hardware.
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