Disc drives became a surprise.
The Ps5 Pro release, has generated a lot of excitement, but it has also shone a spotlight on a major issue: a shortage of disc drives.
The parts required to assemble the drives remain scarce and the total market for these drives could be significantly more than the current supply available. It complicates PS5 users’ lives, especially those who chose the consoles without a player and want to add one today.
A growing black market
The supply of PS5 disc drives continues to be scarce, and the prices of the discs have skyrocketed and hit the black market. Since the official offer does not suffice the need of the public, the exploitive resellers have no time to take time and resell these players at even $200 or more for a player that costs $79.99 according to sony. In some other platforms, these prices sometimes go up to $300, something that is a much higher investment to what most users had expected. This scalping phenomenon, as witnessed earlier at the release of PS5, is very much destructive to users – they are unable to buy a player at the next-best price that they had planned on; instead the prices that they are forced to pay are all much higher than their initial budget.
The effects for the gamers and collectors
It is especially so for players and collectors of physical game copies. As for them, the disc drive is critical to play physical games or to get access to some media content. Owners of rare limited edition games are also affected as they require disc drives, and not all new models come with this feature. Furthermore, there are still many people who like to own the physical discs for some reason maybe collections or for reuse and these shortages reduce their choices.
Reactions and solutions envisaged by Sony
Faced with this situation, Sony has not remained silent. The Japanese brand plans to increase the production of disc players to meet the growing demand.
The company is also looking into the possibility of strengthening its measures against the black market, for example by limiting the number of readers that each user can buy. Sony could also offer specific packages including consoles and players to curb the scalping phenomenon. These initiatives aim to restore users’ access to products at reasonable prices and mitigate the impact of the current shortage.
