Both Sony and Microsoft are releasing digital-only versions of their next-gen consoles. It’s the PS5 Digital Edition for Sony, while for Microsoft, it’s the Xbox Series S. While digital-only consoles are cheaper, they do come with hidden costs.
Upgrade to Expensive SSDS
Lifehacker says that most PS5 and Xbox Series X games need at least 50GB of storage, with some gameseven coming at 100GBs. Moreover, massive games should take up even more SSD space. If you buy a digital-only console, you can store your games only on its internal SSD drive.
If you want to build a vast game library, you’ll need to upgrade your console’s SSD drive. The only problem is that new SSD drives are costly, too. For the PS5, compatible 1TB SSD drives might cost around $230. On the other hand, 1TB SSD drives for the Xbox Series X and S could cost about $220.
Next-Gen Games Won’t Run on External Drives
Even if you use an external HDD for your next-gen console, you can’t play the latest next-gen games from those drives. You can only run old PS4 or Xbox One and 360 games from external drives.
However, you can move your PS5/Xbox Series X/S game data to an external drive if you want to clear out your SSD.
Get Better Internet
Since you own a digital-only console, you’ll need to download all your games. You can only install the games after downloading them. As huge as all next-gen games should be, you’ll need decent internet to download them quickly. You’ll also need to consider your ISP’s data caps if you buy a digital-only console.
So, before going all-in on digital-only consoles, you need to think hard about the long-term costs.
