Sony has revealed two versions of the PlayStation 5 for release this holiday. One is a standard console, while the other is a digital version with the optical drive removed. It's an interesting decision and one that's understandable with the shift to gaming services and digital downloads going strong.
However, Sony doesn't have a strong digital base like Microsoft and it may not be the best move for the PS5.
Microsoft's Game Pass is hugely successful, with hundreds of games available to subscribers and new titles circulating in each month. Sony's PlayStation Now is a similar service, but hasn't seen the same high subscriber count -- mostly due to accessibility, or lack thereof.
Game Pass is available in more countries and offers bundled subscriptions. PS Now is not only less widely-available, but it also costs more. If a PlayStation Plus user wants to sign up for PS Now, they have to purchase it separately from their PS Plus subscription. It's a bit of a hassle and while PS Now does extend to PC, it only streams games rather than make them available for download, like Game Pass will.
Microsoft is better set up for the digital arena, but even when it released its digital console, the Xbox One S Digital, people didn't get excited about it. Some of this had to do with the price tag, which was nearly the same as the standard console.
There are other issues with the digital edition, such as the hardware itself. There has been speculation that the cost of the PS5 will be high and it's unclear if the digital version will have a larger SSD than the standard console.
Current gen games can be massive and downloading a player's library can quickly take up space. For example: Death Stranding is 48GB while Marvel's Spider-Man is a whopping 72GB. Next gen games are likely to get bigger, as the hardware is capable of more. It's evident the PS5's 825GB SSD will fill up quickly.
Both versions of the console will allow for additional storage, but if players want to keep your games loading fast, they'll need to shell out a significant amount of money for specific types of NVMe SSDs. HDDs are of course cheaper, but the PS5's fast-loading selling point will suddenly disappear. It would make more sense for the digital-only console to simply have a larger internal SSD -- though that would likely increase the price.
Gaming and streaming services will be available on both PS5 consoles, so unless there's a large gap in price between the standard and digital versions, it wouldn't be worth purchasing the latter. However, Sony can entice people by providing bundles, like a year of subscription to PS Now or a selection of digital games packaged with the digital version, which could make the purchase worth it.