Sony recently announced the PlayStation 5 Pro, a digital-only upgrade to the PlayStation 5. The three main features they’re promoting are:
- An upgraded GPU
- Advanced ray tracing
- AI-driven upscaling
What that all means is better graphics and faster performance, as you’d expect from a console upgrade. But not even that can eclipse the price points. The PS5 Pro console has MSRPs of $699.99 USD, £699.99 GBP, €799.99 EUR, and ¥119,980 JPY (including tax). And remember, it’s digital-only so if you want to play your discs, you have to buy a Disc Drive which costs £/$/€80. Oh, and the stand is an extra 25. And scalpers have already got their hands on a lot of these accessories and driven the prices up. All in all, you’re paying £/$800+ or €900+ for everything. And for marginal gains in graphics and performance.
According to Mark Cerny, over 25% of PS5 owners own 120fps-capable TVs, and about 10% have variable refresh rate TVs. So I guess that answers the question in the title: they’re the ones Sony expect to buy the PS5 Pro and all its paraphernalia. But those numbers are still small and we’ve known for a while that PlayStations have been sold at a loss for decades so surely making everything even more expensive will make things worse? When you look over at Nintendo, they’ve gone the opposite route and done the bare minimum with tech and focused on experiences within—and slightly outside of—the capabilities of the console and it’ll likely usurp the PlayStation 2 as the greatest selling console of all-time.
Now, I’m not praising Nintendo for their approach and scolding Sony for theirs. I actually think they’re two sides of a coin that doesn’t work in a lot of gamers’ favour despite the sales. But Sony’s ideology behind expecting as many people as possible to spend nearly a grand on the console is wild to me. A big reason why the Switch and the Steam Decks work so well is their portability and working with their limitations (self-inflicted or not). Yeah, you have PS Portal but that just feels like another expensive add-on for the PS5 (another £199.99, please!) and at this point you’re wasting money. And what money does anyone have these days? Most Western countries have growing poverty and financial constraints for working and middle class people. Their incomes may stretch to video games consoles in general (because we all deserve leisure!) but they won’t go much further for upgrades like this.
Needless to say, I’m not part of Sony’s target audience for the PS5 Pro. I admit I was momentarily tempted by the PS5 after watching a trailer for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 but the price put me off (as well as the design—sorry, I hate it). The PS5 Pro and all its related extras will sell and they’ll likely meet some internal targets but the fact that many of us are balking at the cost suggests it won’t win over gamers and their empty wallets.
