This is just a first step into finally getting rid of physical media.
It makes the digital-only version more attractive: it’s cheaper and you don’t really risk not having a drive as you can always add it later if you really need it.
Lots of people will get the cheaper version and never get the drive. Then in a year or two they will quietly stop selling the drive due to low demand. For PS6, they will leave out the optical drive because the majority of PS5 owners didn’t have an optical drive anyway.
It’s also low-risk for Sony, they now get a good picture of the demand for physical media, if they miscalculated they can just keep selling the drive.
This is just a first step into finally getting rid of physical media.
It makes the digital-only version more attractive: it’s cheaper and you don’t really risk not having a drive as you can always add it later if you really need it.
Lots of people will get the cheaper version and never get the drive. Then in a year or two they will quietly stop selling the drive due to low demand. For PS6, they will leave out the optical drive because the majority of PS5 owners didn’t have an optical drive anyway.
It’s also low-risk for Sony, they now get a good picture of the demand for physical media, if they miscalculated they can just keep selling the drive.