Here's what storage options the PS5 will and won't support at launch

With the launch of the PlayStation 5 only a week away, buyers are starting to get clarity on a lot of unanswered questions. Today, Sony confirmed to The Verge that there will be certain restrictions related to storage options for the PS5.

Unfortunately, on launch day, the internal PlayStation 5 storage will not be replaceable or expandable. However, there will be a software update in the future that will change this. For now, though, you should avoid buying any storage options until you read the information below.

Sony PlayStation 5 storage options explained

There are two types of storage the PlayStation 5 will support: internal storage and external storage. Sony’s internal storage system is incredibly fast which results in almost no loading times. Because of these high speeds, only Sony’s official M.2 SSD sticks will definitely work. Due to this limitation, Sony is using software to lock out any internal storage upgrades at first. Eventually, Sony will lift this restriction once it can provide concrete information to third-party hardware OEMs on which M.2 sticks are compatible.

Related: Sony PlayStation 5 buyer’s guide: What you need to know

That being said, the PlayStation 5 storage will still be expandable on launch day via USB-connected external drives. This will allow you to connect most USB drives to the console and get additional storage for games. However, this will only work for previous-generation games, i.e. not PS5 games. For example, a supported PS4 game can play from the external drive, but a next-gen title will not.

In other words, your PS5 games must live in internal storage. Since there’s only about 667GB of space there, you need to be economical with the number of games you get on launch day.

What about the disc drive console?

Naturally, you would assume that the PS5 variant with a disc drive would bypass this internal storage limitation. However, that is not the case. Although the game itself lives on a Blu-Ray disc, the data from that disc just moves right to the internal storage of the console. In a way, the disc is just a way for you to download the game without using the internet (and act as a license key for the title).

See also: Sony finally explains the PlayStation Plus collection for PS5

This means that even if you have physical copies of the game, you’re still going to need to put it on the M.2 drive within the PlayStation. Remember that PS5 games are going to be quite large when it comes to data size. If you buy Demon’s Souls and Call of Duty: Black Ops on launch day, they will collectively take up about 200GB of space on your drive. That’s a little under a third of the available internal storage capacity. Ouch.

Remember that this limitation will eventually go away. You will at some point in the future be able to buy internal storage upgrades from both Sony and third-party manufacturers. Unfortunately, Sony is not being open about when that could be. Whenever it is, it won’t be in November, so you should wait before buying any internal drives.