You cannot install PS5 games on external storage

PS5 has a killer limitation which can prove to be problematic if left unresolved.

Disk space is essential for both PS5 and Xbox Series X / S. Microsoft’s solution allows gamers to essentially use slower external drives as cold storage; move seldom played games to them and copy them when they want to play them.

Sony’s solution, well, there isn’t. As we noted in our PS5 review, PS5 only has 667GB of usable storage out of the box. The internal drive is primarily intended for PS5 games, but you can install PS4 games on it.

The problem, however, is that PS5 games cannot be moved to the external drive. The console UI only allows you to move PS4 games back and forth, but this transfer menu doesn’t even list PS5 games.

It’s possible that this will change when Sony allows us to install NVMe SSDs in the expansion slot sometime after launch, but even then NVMe prices will likely move away a lot for years to come.

Support for cold storage will be needed more and more as we move into the generation. Gamers with measured connections and those who mix up a bunch of games will have a hard time sticking to internal storage only.

The Xbox Series X / S, of course, both offer this capability from day one, so it’s disappointing to see Sony missing out there. The good news, at least for now, is that your PS4 games could be stored on the external hard drive, so you should have a few hundred gigabytes free for more PS5 games.