Western Digital PS5 SSD Officially Licensed by Sony

Sony and Western Digital have announced a partnership to officially license The WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe PS5 SSD. This announcement comes nearly a year after PS5 architect Mark Cerny praised the drive and said that it was his choice of storage expansion. In a press release, Western Digital said that it has fully tested the SSD and optimized it for the PS5. The 1TB variant costs $169.99 at retail and the 2TB variant costs $279.99. Both are now available to purchase and come in official PS5-themed packaging.

How to purchase WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe PS5 SSD

Head over to Western Digital’s online store or Best Buy if you want to purchase the SSD. According to the company, it’ll be available at other select retailers and distributors starting mid August.

“We’re excited for this new journey with Sony Interactive Entertainment and the opportunity to bring the officially licensed drive to PS5 gamers,” said Susan Park, vice president of Consumer Solutions Product Management at Western Digital. “Western Digital’s WD_BLACK brand was created to bring high-performance products to gamers everywhere. Combined with this innovative partnership, we aim to deepen our current commitment to developing storage solutions that enhance the gaming experience for all gamers.”

Tech specs are as follows:

• Storage Capacity: 1000 gigabytes
• Maximum Read Speed: 7000 megabytes per second
• Maximum Write Speed: 5300 megabytes per second
• Form Factor: M.2 2280
• Interface(s): PCIe Gen 4 x4

In other news, The Last of Us Part 1 Remake has gone gold, and Horizon Zero Dawn is getting an official coloring book.