This is why I am still against the MS acquisitions. Imagine that whole debacle happening but you're still forced to buy an anti consumer console, because God forbid you like to play CoD, Fallout, Starfield...
https://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/hardware/ps5-disc-... “Internet connection required to pair disc drive and PS5 console upon set up.”
Cue defenders “but it's only once and then it works offline!!” like that will make a difference in the far future once the activation system is dead and gone.
The more salient comparison for “why” is look at PC games. Even if you buy a physical copy, most require you to authenticate them online.
Sony chose instead to do a one time drive authentication so you don’t need to authenticate every game online instead.
This puts them in the same boat as the retail Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles, which require an internet connection during first time setup.