They only sold the digital PS5 at the price they did because they can force users to buy digital games.
I said they probably won’t allow this disc drive to work with existing PS5 Digital Editions. (Not disc.)
The best attach rates for *optional* peripherals are in 20%, usually closer to 5% or lower. That includes the literal predecessor to this that XBox360 did.
In other words - a new SKU with this model will yield them
80-95% digital only consoles in user hands. All the while not pissing off any users that want their physical media, and saving a ton of money on manufacturing.
Meanwhile -
today - Sony has like 5-10% of all digital SKUs out there. Even if we assume that ratio stays until EOL (which is at least 10x too optimistic) - and every single digital owner buys the drive add-on - again about 10x too optimistic - that's still only single digit % change to the above bolded ratio.
Basically blocking old consoles wins them nothing but statistical error in terms of even the most greedy market-prediction, but
not-blocking them will buy a ton of goodwill for the existing users that will feel better just knowing the option exists, even if they have no intention of taking it (majority of Digital-console owners wouldn't buy such an add-on - let's be real).
Now sure - all 3 console companies have a history of doing the dumbest shit possible to piss of their userbase at times - but it's not like a *rule* that they hit every single time, so there's a chance they won't be complete idiots about this.
And Tom Henderson has accurately leaked both the Sony INZONE products and the DualSense Edge. He’s legit.
Again - I totally believe the detached drive SKU will probably exist (I've been speculating about it at least 8 months ago), I just don't think it necessarily means it'll be some convoluted proprietary only setup. But I've been wrong before - like hoping against hope for PSVR2 BC, so who knows.