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The ongoing PS5/PS5 Pro disc drive shortage has left a large number of players frustrated as they struggle to secure the add-on. The detachable standalone drive was introduced with the PS5 Slim, but unlike the PS5 Pro, the Slim comes bundled with a drive unless players opt to purchase a digital console. PS5 Pro players are, unfortunately, having a hard time finding a disc drive.
Scalpers dropped the pricey PS5 Pro and picked up disc drives instead
The PS5 disc drive shortage seems to be a problem of Sony‘s own making. The company’s official online storefront, PS Direct, is often out of stock. At the time of this writing, both the U.S. and U.K. PS Direct stores are out of disc drives. When the store is restocked, the drives disappear almost instantly.
The situation isn’t any better when it comes to third-party retailers — both physical and digital. Players who did manage to secure a drive claim that they’d been regularly visiting their local stores, like Best Buy and Target, for random stock drops. Not everyone has the ability to pull this off, however.
Scalpers were understandably quick to catch on. When the PS5 Pro was fully revealed with details like its price and lack of packaged disc drive, the add-on immediately started disappearing and turning up on sites like eBay instead. Instead of hoarding the Pro consoles, scalpers have been stacking the disc drives.
I just checked eBay and found pages upon pages of listings for the elusive drive, going for twice the retail price.
It’s unclear why Sony continues to manufacture the disc drives in highly limited quantities, and the company has made no statement on the matter either — a bit bizarre considering how apologetic Sony was over the PS5 shortage.