PS5 Pro's $700 price tag wouldn't be so tough to swallow if it weren't missing the most basic feature of all: a disc drive

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The PS5 Pro was officially unveiled today, and the part that stopped everybody in their tracks was that $699 price tag. That's a price I'd be more than willing to pay - if only the console weren't selling its disc drive as an optional add-on.

After the video reveal of the PS5 Pro, Sony confirmed in a blog post that the console will launch as a digital-only machine. If you want a disc drive, you're going to have to buy it separately. You'll be able to pick up the same optional disc drive that launched as a PS5 Slim upgrade and costs $80. If you want to stand up your PS5 Pro vertically, you're also going to have to purchase a separate vertical stand.

That $700 price tag would be a lot easier to swallow if the console wasn't poised to launch without what were once considered basic pieces of functionality. This isn't the first Sony console to launch with an eye-watering price tag, but you didn't have to pay extra to stick a disc in a PS3 or stand it vertically. Judging by the tone of responses to this particular detail I've seen on social media, I'm not alone in finding it weird that disc drives are now "paid DLC."

I'm fully committed to keeping a physical game library, and while I know I'm not alone in that regard I do recognize that us physical media hounds are outliers at this point in time. But I'd wager the vast majority of the hardcore players in the market for PS5 Pro sprung for a console with a disc drive in the first place, and now keep a hybrid library of both digital and physical games. If you have even one game on a disc, that 'optional' drive attachment is no longer optional if you want to keep access to your entire library.

Beyond the missing disc drive, here's what you need to know about PS5 vs PS5 Pro specs.