Report: PS3 to come with HDD standard

European Sony rep reportedly confirms that the next-gen console will come with 60GB hard drive, dispelling dual-SKU fears.

At last week's PlayStation Business Briefing in Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi revealed that the PlayStation 3 would have a 2.5-inch, Linux-based, 60GB hard drive. He also made it clear that the hard drive will be required, as Sony is telling developers to create PS3 games that will run on a console with an HDD. "We view the hard drive to be mandatory for the PS3," he said.

However, Kutaragi danced around the question of whether or not the PS3 will come with a hard drive. "We might end up installing it in all PS3s, though that depends on the market," he said. His comments raised the prospect that the PS3 could be sold without a piece of hardware needed to play PS3 games--in effect forcing consumers to buy a peripheral for basic functionality. It also raised the prospect that, like the Xbox 360, the PS3 would have multiple SKUs at different price points.

Now, though, reports have surfaced claiming that Sony has confirmed that the PS3 will indeed come with a hard drive. Along with a number of European sites, GamaSutra is reporting that Sony Computer Entertainment Europe PR manager Jonathan Fargher has officially said that the next-gen console will be packaged with a detachable 60GB HDD. He also said that higher-capacity HDDs will be available as premium add-ons, though he did not list any specific storage sizes.

465 Comments

  • Gunitsoldier91

    Posted Apr 13, 2006 7:14 am PT

    smart decision , but it price will be too high

  • neofox5

    Posted Mar 28, 2006 7:58 am PT

    Yes let's hope that Sony isn't a liar like Microsoft is

  • Gorkface

    Posted Mar 26, 2006 9:19 pm PT

    The PS3's games/performance better be way more impressive than the X-box 360 to justify it's upcoming large retail price.

  • bunty_007

    Posted Mar 25, 2006 9:01 pm PT

    Ok cool... better it come 'builtin' for Ps3

  • rayeth_04

    Posted Mar 24, 2006 9:56 pm PT

    Cool! can't hardly wait for november to come. If u love gaming money will never be an issue.

  • holhardy

    Posted Mar 24, 2006 2:41 pm PT

    A SKU is what stores use to inventory items, its not the bar code its a unique store no#. For example Best Buys sku's for Xbox 360 Pro is 7457637 and the core is7457744.

  • Kain57

    Posted Mar 23, 2006 4:59 pm PT

    Whats a SKU????
    other than tha kooooool itll come with a hard drive

  • Neo_Gamer81

    Posted Mar 23, 2006 11:41 am PT

    My question now is: Will it be able to store my old PS One and PS2 saves?

  • Gart7

    Posted Mar 23, 2006 11:21 am PT

    AAAAAAHHH

  • Sammyboy2005

    Posted Mar 23, 2006 8:20 am PT

    HDDs dont actually cost all that much, I mean look at this site:
    http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=17485353554&action=c2hvd3N1YmNhdGVnb3J5X3NlYXJjaA==&cat_uid=4&stid=2
    80GB HDD for £20, Im buying a 300GB HDD for only 80 quid.
    And considering Sony will be buying it in bulk, it wont realy whack the price up all that much.

  • Gouki_13

    Posted Mar 23, 2006 7:49 am PT

    Yes.. my prayers have been answered.

    erm. i mean:

    ahem, that was a deft move, sony-sama.



  • shimekorosu

    Posted Mar 23, 2006 3:33 am PT

    sweet

  • K1LLSWITCH

    Posted Mar 23, 2006 3:25 am PT

    There is alot of things that Sony experimented with with the PS2, like the hard drive and the network adaptor. I believe Sony learned from those mistakes and improved on them. My question for Sony is how much will the HDD will cost if I chose to buy one later down the road? I'm really excited about the PS3, it's going to change on how we play games. For instance, picture in picture. It's an exciting time to be a gamer.

  • CloudStrifeFFO7

    Posted Mar 23, 2006 1:10 am PT

    Awsome!

  • 9469

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 10:24 pm PT

    This makes me like the ps3 even more and the xbox 360 is looking a bit les tantalizing...

  • kingdevil

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 9:27 pm PT

    thast what i been looking 4

  • guile_charlie

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 9:26 pm PT

    Heck yeah! All of the above new totaly brings a smile to my face, and makes me more comfortable when thinking of the success of Sony's Playstation3!

  • necro007

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 4:20 pm PT

    With the PS3 having a Hard Drive besides having Blu-ray this is going to cost some major $$$$.

  • kavikb647

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 3:46 pm PT

    ITS SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET......................MORE GOOOOD NEEEWWSS
    AND I DONT CARE ABOUT MONEY

  • jono128

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 2:29 pm PT

    Most of you guys seem to not care about pricing but I can tell you right now that the majority of the population does.

    For me, I'm not gonna pay $600+ solely for prettier graphics and more power. Please. At best, The graphics of the PS3 will be marginally better than the Xbox 360's graphics. Except the PS3 costs hundreds of dollars more. Get the PS3 for its great games, not just for its updated graphics.

    And no, I am not a MS fanboy.

  • sam20vt

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 1:41 pm PT

    more good news!!!!!

  • mrzog7346

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 1:39 pm PT

    cool

  • Coolboy420x

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 1:08 pm PT

    HEY!! Heres something u all should wonder about ----- NOBODY is ready to pay even a $100 for a PS3 and EVERYBODY is ready to pay a $1000 for a PS3, the reason being nobody as of rite now knows what PS3 is capable of and what launch titles are completed and we wont know it until its in our hands sooooo lets wait it out instead of worrying bout it- Play ur PS2 for the time being lols PEACE.

  • Coolboy420x

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 1:01 pm PT

    441th comment!! - Ahem, well i dont think this news is 100% true as of yet, but I'd say almost everyone is relieved that the HDD is included - n for all those peeps crying about the price let me give u some hope --- If S0NY was planing to sell the Ps3 for $600-$800 then they certainly wouldnt be planning to ship out 6 million consoles by the end of the MARCH 2007. So guys keep on dreaming and speculating on what the Ps3 is capable of and it'll all come true- PEACE ;-)

  • gamespotr0cks

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 12:56 pm PT

    A 60GB HDD (w/rebate of course) for most good brands is ~$20 retail price. No kidding! Look at 200GB selling for ~$50-70 AR (after rebate) at many U.S. stores. Mass-produced, a 60GB HDD will probably only amount to $5 cost to $ony. Not even that much, really? Considering retail markup on many computer components is 100-200% easily, that $20 HDD was manufactured at 1/3 or less the cost. So do not worry...a HDD will not raise the price. The Blu-RAY drive will be the killer..and having 2 sets of lasers (one for Blu-RAY & another for DVD/CD) doesn't keep costs down. The Cell processor will also be a big chunk of the cost, until mass production in the tens of millions finds $ony a way to perfect the process. Manufacturing is weird...you start out making something in the thousands and the cost is quite fixed. But when you produce millions, you find ways to cut corners and make things more efficient. Soon, you're producing 10% more chips in the same time. Which saves $$$ on transport/storage/etc.

  • NecromancerDave

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 12:36 pm PT

    all right! another $100 at least to the price estimate!

  • CC914

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 12:22 pm PT

    So what if its is expensive. It's new technology its "Sony" and regardless of all the "problems" people have had with PS2, Sony is still #1 in the gaming console market. I will pay what i think is reasonable so unless PS3 is 700-900 dollars i will own one.

  • azorath44

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 11:47 am PT

    its 100$ to buy the 360's 20 GB hard drive seprate , wonder how much this 60GB will raise the price

  • JVIoneyman

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 11:32 am PT

    That was obvious, there is no way they would sell it unable to play anything...people are always spewing stupidity.

  • 00Rambol00

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 10:54 am PT

    Am lookin forward to this system just w8in now......

  • jaefrmbk2k

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 10:49 am PT

    if you really wanna know how much iss gonna be u're axin' the wrong ppl. i'm from the year 3000 so i already know.

  • Crutch20

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 10:16 am PT

    Glad to know it's already in there. I wouldn't like it if the only option was to buy it seperate of the console.

  • Salehjamal

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 10:16 am PT

    I really wouldn't worry about the price! up to $600 is cool by me!
    as long as sony delivers a good machine, I am a happy owner.

  • janco15

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 10:11 am PT

    wow, evil song preveils

  • Ne0zEEd

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 10:05 am PT

    Good deal..hope it's a FACT..

  • skyvader

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 9:45 am PT

    I thought of something else. Sony is saying to developers to make games as if the hard drive is there. MS has told that to developers since day one for the original Xbox. So what makes me curious is why MS did not enforce that same rule for the 360? Is it because they never intended to make the drive mandatory like Sony is wanting to do? I don't get where a company makes a game with the hard drive in mind for the original Xbox and then ports it to a system that may or may not have a hard drive. Unless these third party cross platform titles are dumbed down to the least common denominator. That would make sense yet back in the days of the SNES and Genesis where ports were actually recoded for that system in mind. Taking advantage of that systems features. How is EA taking into account the mandatory HD for fight night 3 where as it wasn't really needed for the 360? I think Sony is full of it as practically demanding hard drive support from a company that is also making the game for the 360 which does not have a standard drive. This is where MS needs to get rid of the core unit and only sell suped up premium systems. Then they can have these developers not have to worry about if their game will work coming from the PS3 to the 360 and vice versa.

  • skyvader

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 9:30 am PT

    Ms should use this time to revamp the premium system. Replace the 20 with at least a 40 and swap out the std dvd drive for the hd one. Toshiba has some for pc and consumers. It would be a good deal if MS also allowed the early adopters the chance to send in their 360's for the upgrade for the cost of shipping. Price might jump to $499 but at $499 you know you would be getting a 40gb drive, HDVD drive and the other standard 360 parts. I have read many times that Sony has been touting a price point of $500+ in the US. Something like 60,000 yen or so in Japan.

  • kizman

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 9:17 am PT

    60GB cost for sony what 20GB cost microsoft a year ago...

  • Buttmonkey9000

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 9:13 am PT

    Cool

  • teh_zax

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 9:12 am PT

    Having a hard drive is all well and good, but how they utilize it is what realy matters. You'll definately be able to put save games on it, but what about content, music downloads, video, game demos, I'm sure these will all be available, but not in the unique way that microsoft has presented it.

    The 20gb HDD is small, yes, but all of the music, video, & picture are all stored on a PC, giving you almost unlimited media storage.

    There is also the user created content. From all I've read, the PS3 is extremely difficult to program for. The 360 is not only easy to create content for, but there is an entire market place for your created content. You could actualy make money for creating a space invaders clone.

    This changes nothing for me though, I would buy the PS3 no matter what. I need MGS4, ratchet and clank, and other PS only title that I love. Even if I had to buy a HDD I'd still run out on release day to grab one.

  • Legir

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 8:25 am PT

    Good. For next gen games to be awsome i think a HD is needed. Sony could surpass XBox in terms of added content to games.

  • M69X

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 7:49 am PT

    Hdd would be a nice addition. BUT...
    it's just another gouge point for consumers.
    I smell the $$$ rising.

  • Robinvd

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 7:12 am PT

    hmmm 60 GB looks nice but it wil give the price a boost of minimal 75 Euro's

  • john1navarro

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 6:30 am PT

    nice, now much mula? "money"

  • Vonheidger

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 6:21 am PT

    and the price goes up to the sky...

  • brotherscampos

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 6:03 am PT

    Inerver like the idea of a Hard Drive on my console, because I prefer buy the games

  • KoyHalloren

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 6:00 am PT

    Ok, first off, you can say MS is ripping people off with their HD if you want to, but it's not like they're running down to the store and picking up mass produced sata drives and sticking them into the thing. It is a proprietary piece of equipment and who knows how much the damn thing costs to make. You want to site MS for ripping people off, then point at the wireless adaptor at least, which is way over-priced.

    Second, if you think that adding this hard drive is going to be the kicker that pushed the price of of the PS3 into the realm of expensive, you're not paying much attention or you're ignorant. The PS3 is the most experimental console in history. In the past, most components used in consoles that would be considered experimental were already being used in PC's. Hard drives, modems, ethernet connections, whatever. In this case you are looking at to untested (and by untested I mean unrealeased to mainstream use for any length of time) technologies. When you buy your PS3 you're paying for the manufacturing and development of the Blu-ray AND the cell aside from all the other features that are built into the device. It reportedly costs almost $1000 to build one of these units (before the hard drive). Now based on logic, lets assume the unit costs $850 to make so that fanboys don't scream. Then let's assume that they sell the unit for $100 more than the 360, $500. If Sony releases it's 1 million units at launch, it would lose about 350 million dollars. If the unit costs closer to $1100 to build with a hard drive, and you believe that it's going to sell for the sam $400 that 360 sells for, 700 million dollar loss. Sony is going to take a loss on these units, just like every console manufacturer always has, but if you think Sony is going to take a close to a billion dollar loss on launch day? There's no way. It would take a years worth of game and accessory sales to recoup the cost without even calculating the cost of, you know, making more than a million PS3 to sell to everyone else.

    Expect the PS3 to price at $599 or higher. If it doesn't, great you won't be disappointed, but if you're sitting there banking at a $399 launch price, you're gonna be short when it comes out.

    Am I saying the unit sucks? All reports say no, it doesn't. The question really is, will the unit be $100-$300 better than the 360? All reports say no, it won't, not from a functionality standpoint. I love Virtua Fighter and I'm dying to play 5 but I am not willing to pay $600 bucks for a system that's marginally better than a $400 system in practice.

    Do I even start on cross platform games, or blu-ray manufacturing costs? Probably not.

  • vin_andy

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 5:26 am PT

    nice!!!!the prices shouldn't be high...every1 hoipes for that only....we just want that console at a reasonable price....

  • vin_andy

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 5:24 am PT

    niceeee!!! I just hope that SONY doesnt price is at peak...

  • Fatality4u

    Posted Mar 22, 2006 5:08 am PT

    That will definitely make it 500 dollars.

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