When Sony Unveiled the PS5 in September, many people were unsurprised that the mid-generation upgrade existed. What was more surprising, however, was the price tag and the lack of disc drive on the premium device. What was Sony thinking with this $699 PS5? And will people be willing to shell out seven hundred dollars for a home console?
PS5 Pro
The PS5 Pro will be a dramatically more powerful home console than its predecessor and will hit stores in November. It won’t have a disc drive or a vertical stand included. Disc drives for PlayStation consoles retail for $80 and vertical stands are $30, bringing the price above $800 if you want both of those accessories.
Introducing the New Console
Mark Cerny introduced the console in a YouTube video that premiered in early September. Cerny’s calm description of the system’s capabilities and its advantages over the base PS5 were easy enough to follow, but some fans felt the upgrades the new system offers to existing PS5 games are hard to notice.
What’s Different?
Some of the enhancements are very minor, such as improved detail in far distances, better textures for things like grass and dirt, or simply smoother framerates in more chaotic moments. And, notably, it’s tough to get a full measure of how a new system performs when you’re just seeing its output over a heavily compressed YouTube video (and possibly while watching on your smartphone screen).
Questions Linger
Still, there are a lot of questions surrounding the PS5 Pro. Why did Sony feel that now was the right time to deploy a Pro version of its current generation console? There’s not a big first-party title on the horizon to take advantage of the new power. In fact, many players have contended it feels like this generation is struggling to find its footing.
Weird Generation
Many people have simply held off from getting a PS5 at all, with around half of PlayStation’s players sticking with their aging PS4 consoles. This could be partly due to the shortages the PS5 experienced in 2020 when it launched, which led to long wait times for restocks and absurd secondhand market prices for the consoles from resellers. Many gamers might have simply chosen to sit out this generation.
Getting Caught Up?
Will a $700 console change their minds? Probably not. The PS5 Pro is likely going to be marketed almost exclusively toward Sony’s most dedicated users who want the very best performance from their home consoles. The PS4 Pro, for comparison, made up around thirteen percent of the PS4’s lifetime sales.
Then vs Now
But the PS5 Pro is a bit of a different beast. Back in 2016, the economy was in a different place (no one had even heard of COVID-19, for one thing). Players were also heavily encouraged to upgrade to see the power of 4K resolutions, which were a major focus of TV manufacturers and game developers in the late 10s. The PS5 Pro isn’t bringing a similar paradigm shift to bear.
Price Cuts
Moreover, the PS4 had seen its $400 price tag slashed to $300 by the time the PS4 Pro landed. And the Pro model was itself only $400 at launch. The base PS5 with a disc drive is $500 still in the US and recently saw price hikes in many regions. What’s more, when you consider how rough inflation has been, the dollar is worth a good bit less in 2024 than it was in 2016, so the PS5 Pro’s higher price tag stings even more for beleaguered consumers.
What People are Playing
And yet, despite all of these concerns, there’s clearly an audience for the upgraded console. After all, the most-played games on the PS5 already are either available on other platforms, like Call of Duty and numerous annual sports titles, or they’re “forever” games like Fortnite or Destiny 2. These games will all benefit from better graphics, smoother framerates, and faster loading times, right?
Killer App
As far as killer apps go, the PS5 Pro will be the best way to play Grand Theft Auto 6 whenever it finally comes out. That’s because GTA games never hit PC first, they’re always console exclusives for a few years. And Microsoft isn’t making a comparable “pro” model for the Xbox Series X, which means Sony’s machine will offer the best possible performance for the hotly anticipated game.
Numbers Game
GTA 6 will probably sell an absurd number of copies just on current-gen Xbox hardware and the base PS5. But if even a small fraction of Sony fans upgrade to a Pro model system for the game, that’ll represent an enormous userbase. There are also a handful of other big first-party games on the horizon for Sony.
First-Party Tiles and Exclusives
Insomniac’s upcoming Wolverine title has a lot of buzz. Likewise, Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima follow-up is coming… eventually. Perhaps even further out, the third entry in Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy might be a PlayStation exclusive this generation, assuming it doesn’t slip into the PlayStation 6 era.
Will it Matter?
But will four games with no release dates move the needle at all for sales of a console this year? It’s hard to imagine there are throngs of fans clamoring for better performance for the existing PS5 games they’ve already beaten, right? Surely there are a few people who have been waiting for the Pro console to jump into this generation and to whom the games with enhanced performance will be brand new. Still, those players seem few and far between.
Echoes of PS3 Reveal
Time will tell if this ends up being a similar situation to the PS3 reveal back in 2006. When Sony first unveiled its then-new console with a price point of $599 (remember, that’d be around $900 in today’s money) the general gaming public balked hard enough to get Sony to back off on the price.
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Price Cuts?
The odds of a price cut seem unlikely. As mentioned earlier, PS5 prices went up in numerous regions earlier this year. Controllers are five bucks more expensive now, too, which just feels petty on Sony’s part. The company is very unlikely to offer any kind of price cut on its newest, shiniest hardware. Those who want it, Sony reasons, will find the money somehow.
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