With PS5 looming on the horizon like some giant obelisk which might struggle to fit under your TV, the floodgates are now open and news around Sony’s console continues to emerge, including official re-confirmation that SSD storage expansion won’t be supported at launch.
PlayStation 5 will, of course, include a lightning-fast 825GB solid-state drive on release, and Sony has previously confirmed owners will be able to expand that SSD storage space via the console’s dedicated internal M.2 slot.
However, speaking to The Verge, Sony has reiterated a point made by lead PlayStation system architect Mark Cerny earlier this year, confirming that PS5’s M.2 slot will be disabled out of the box on launch day, and that it won’t be activated for players until a “future update”. USB external storage support, suited to the likes of PS4 titles, be available on day one, however.
The Verge notes that Cerny stipulated a number of requirements M.2 SSDs would need to meet in order to work efficiently with PlayStation 5 – including I/O controller compatibility and the ability to deliver more than 5.5GB/sec of bandwidth over a PCIe Gen4 connection – with the website’s sources suggesting Sony hasn’t yet begun its SSD compatibility testing programme.