This console generation has been notable for many reasons, from the scarcity during a covid-era launch through to the unprecedented scale of failures and studio closures, but one aspect that’s more bizarre to see than any other is the continual increase in prices. Historically midway through a generation we would see prices start to drop—this time, however, we’ve only seen the cost go up. And now in an astonishing move, it’s looking like Sony might be downgrading the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition.
While currently only affecting customers in Europe, the situation appears to be that the narrower PlayStation 5 Digital’s storage will be reduced from 1TB to 825GB, with the price remaining the same. That’s a price which, notably, has already been increased twice since launch. This is what’s being reported by billbil-kun on the French site Dealabs, based on information from certification documents that show the next version of the discless PS5 in Europe, the CFI-2116 model, will maintain the current €499 ($580) price, but lose 20 percent of its storage capacity. This is currently only affecting the digital PS5; the version with a disc drive is as yet unchanged.
That €499 price, it should be noted, is €100 ($116) more expensive than the PS5 was at launch, after two €50 increases since 2020. In the U.S., the console has also increased in price. Sony warned in May that Trump’s implementation of tariffs would likely cause costs to increase, and last month that happened. The PS5 Digital, which launched at $400, is now only available as the PS5 Slim at $500 (originally $450), though at least it still comes with a full terabyte of storage.
Of course, any of this could change at any time. In previous generations, at around the four-to-five year mark in a console’s lifespan, we’d usually be seeing prices dropping on original builds, perhaps alongside a tweaked version at the original launch price. As such, it’s been weird enough to see this reversed, let alone then learning that new versions of the machines might become worse instead of better.
825GB is far too little space in 2025. The PS5 Digital originally launched with that as its standard storage, before the “Slim” version replaced it in 2023 and upgraded things to 1TB. But given Sony’s software already takes up a huge chunk of the drive, that only leaves 667GB on an 825GB disc for your use. Given AAA games are routinely coming in around 150GB these days, you’re left with room for maybe four or five big titles? That’s terrible.
But console manufacturers are clearly hurting when it comes to hardware revenue, given most are notoriously sold at cost or at a loss, and with tariff confusion and reality deeply hurting markets, there’s obviously a desire to shave costs wherever it’s possible. Putting the price of the console up a third time in five years in Europe is probably too big of an ask, so cutting corners could well be the next option. Which sucks. Big time.
