Sony subsidiary makes PS5 SSD even more out of your reach

Nextorage, a Sony subsidiary, has released a perfect SSD for the PS5 (Going through Tom’s Hardware): It has a heat sink (which Sony says is a requirement), is fast enough to outperform Sony’s recommendations, and comes in 1TB and 2TB versions, giving you plenty of storage for your games. The trap ? It’s a bit pricey, isn’t available in the US, and doesn’t appear to have an official “PlayStation Approved” stamp despite its manufacturer’s affiliation with Sony.

Nextorage describes itself as a “Sony group company specializing in memory storage solutions,” and its NEM-PA SSD ticks all the boxes for PlayStation 5 compatibility. When news of the player first broke, this seemed to be the solution to the confusion that can currently come with expanding your PS5’s storage. Indeed, Nextorage’s drive seems like a perfect fit. Gigazine tested one and said that not only is it as fast as the console’s internal SSD (at least when it comes to game load times), the NEM-PA fits into the PS5 slot like … Well, as it was designed for this.

Image: Nextorage

But nothing in life is perfect or simple, so we need to give some caveats. The first is that the SSD doesn’t appear to be on sale outside of Japan: we couldn’t find anything at Nextorage on Amazon US, Newegg, or B&H. Second, it doesn’t look like a good deal based on its list price in Japan either – the 1TB model is listed for 36,444 yen, which is roughly $ 330 USD. For comparison, one of our top PS5 SSD picks is the WD Black SN850, the 1TB version of which is listed on the same Japanese store for 29,540 yen, or around $ 270.

It also doesn’t appear that the PlayStation team was necessarily very involved in this SSD, although Nextorage is a subsidiary of Sony. (Even that has a caveat, as Sony’s role seems to be more akin to that of co-owner – Digital hours reports that Phison Electronics now owns a 49% stake in the company, a fact supported by the About Nextorage page.) Nextorage posted a YouTube video that mentions the SSD used in the PS5, but the description reads:

Performance with PlayStation®5 is tested by Nextorage.

This is not a product developed under license from Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. Compatibility and performance are not guaranteed for all game titles.

Image: Yodobashi/Nextorage

That’s not to say that Nextorage doesn’t link this SSD to the PS5, as it puts a lot of effort into it – the product page has a section on how to install the drive in a console, as well as a section on how to install the drive in a console, as well as a section on how to install the drive in a console. way it can be used to hold PlayStation games. But for those of us hoping Sony will simplify the PS5’s storage situation, it doesn’t – at least not until Sony gives it a PlayStation seal of approval and plans for a worldwide release. .

Since there doesn’t seem to be a reason to buy this drive over another (unless it’s the only one in stock and you’re desperate), you can check out our PS5 SSD buying guide.