The “PS5 Slim” -Sony will continue to call it PS5- is already a reality, and at its launch we discovered an important new feature in addition to its new, more compact, lighter and thinner design.
That novelty is none other than its new Blu-ray Disc (BD) drive, which is now modular and can be added to the digital edition, for example, if at some point its users decide they want to enjoy it. But there is a problem.
That problem is none other than DRM. The website CharlieIntel, dedicated to news of the ‘Call of Duy’ franchise, has published some images of the box of the new PS5 Slim in which both the BD unit and a copy of ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’ are included, and on it appears a disturbing message:
“An internet connection is required to pair the Disk Drive and PS5 console during installation.”
As Ars Technica points out, that warning seems to make it clear that Sony wants to prevent other Blu-ray drives from being able to be connected that perhaps through modifications to their firmware allow discs to be decrypted.
The requirement exists both for PS5 Slim without a drive – and to which we can add it later – and PS5 Slim with a BD drive, which will also need that initial check/activation on the Internet.
Wait…..are you actually trying to say to me that the PlayStation 5 Optional Disc Drive has ONLINE DRM??!!
I…I mean what??!!! pic.twitter.com/cYVGuPR16g
— TheStebe (@The_Stebe) October 25, 2023
The measure is by no means new: at Wired they tried in 2020 to swap the units of two PS5 of that time without succeeding, and this type of systems were integrated in consoles of previous generations: even the Xbox 360 used such measures, as indicated in iFixit.
Getting an unofficial disc drive “paired” and installed in these consoles is feasible with modified firmware, but in the US that is a violation of Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). There are exceptions in case of need for repair, but beyond that, the process is vetoed.
In Spain, there have already been damning rulings in this regard: the new Article 270.6 of the Penal Code – the so-called “Gag Law” – which came into force in July 2015 penalized among other things the modification of game consoles.
That initial internet connection will more than likely not be necessary from that point on, but it still poses future problems. For example, for those trying to preserve the software and hardware we use to play games.
Manufacturers seem to give leeway in these scenarios: in 2021 Sony updated the firmware on PS4s – PS5s don’t have that problem – so users could avoid a “kill switch” based on their CMOS batteries. Microsoft did something similar with an update that allowed playing older Xbox games without an internet check. Still, the requirement for the PS5 Slim is still conspicuous and, perhaps, inconvenient.