The PS5 Pro has been rumored for over a year now, and it’s proven to be exactly what most people expected: a similar-looking machine that runs games with increasingly better graphics and performance. The only thing that is unexpected is List price is $700and the price shock has turned some fairly straightforward discussions about upgrade trade-offs into an unusually heated proxy fight over seemingly unrelated issues.
Sony system architect Mark Cerny introduced the PS5 Pro earlier this week and conducted a series of comparisons between games running on existing hardware and the new machine. difference difficult to distinguishespecially through Compressed YouTube video clips,but The point sounds good: A GPU that renders games 45% faster, advanced ray tracing that doubles or even triples lighting speed, and an AI-driven upgrade called PlayStation Spectral Super-Resolution (PSSR) that further improves image clarity and detail. But as soon as the price tag was announced, shock over the price ensued and largely drowned out more nuanced discussions about the new device.
How much better will games look on PS5 Pro?
It’s easy to understand why. $700 is a lot of money to spend on a video game console, and when adjusted for inflation, third highest price Sony has charged for the new console. The company’s demo did little to convince players of the merits of the PS5 Pro as their next big gaming purchase. Cerny’s demo showcases old games, including next-gen titles The Last of Us Part 2 Originally released on PS4. No new game running at 4K at 60fps has wowed fans, and the difference in smoothness and background detail is hard to detect across the internet. Strangely, there is only one exit, Science and Technology Information Networkappears to have been invited Test new hardware yourself.
It wasn’t until some experts started looking at direct lossless rendering of PS5 Pro gameplay footage that the improvements became even more impressive. “Wow, yes, FF7R looks much better on PS5 Pro,” Tweet digital foundryJohn Linneman reports just days after the initial disclosure. “What a difference between day and night. I actually put off playing it because of other things going on at launch, but the Pro will finally push me to enjoy it. The image quality on the regular PS5 is terrible.
The understated comment sparked a barrage of responses and quote-tweeting, slamming the PS5 Pro and criticizing Final Fantasy VII RebornExisting graphics on base PS5. That’s odd, because Square Enix’s sprawling RPG looks gorgeous when static but wobbly when in motion, something that was widely reported upon release. If anything, it’s an ideal test case for the PS5 Pro upgrade: a third-party game struggling to hold everything together within the constraints of current launch hardware.
Similar PCs are more expensive than people think
Final Fantasy VII Reborn This is also the type of game coming to PC in the future, and it will probably look better on a higher-end machine than on the PS5 Pro. But how much do these gaming rigs cost relative to Sony’s offerings? We don’t have the full official specs for the PS5 Pro yet, but they can be built at PC Parts Selector From slightly more expensive to a lot of more expensive.
For example, a barebone PC consists of IGN Trying to match SSD storage and GPU capabilities, the result is Estimated cost is approximately $930. Not bad for a machine that has access to Steam sales, Epic Games Store freebies, and doesn’t require you to pay for a monthly online multiplayer subscription. But other, more conservative estimates put the price at much higher. Customized construction technology radar Estimated cost is close to $1,200and that doesn’t even include the DualSense controller to take full advantage of first-party Sony games once they’re ported to PC. However, even this number may be an underestimate.
“Maybe a little more,” digital foundryNarrated by Richard Leadbetter IGN in a recent interviews When asked how much a similar computer would cost. “If you think about the overall view of all the different components, enhanced ray tracing (which no AMD GPU currently has), machine learning modules (which no AMD GPU has) — it’s essentially like an Nvidia-style feature set, but AMD The closest equivalent GPU you’ll be targeting is the RTX 4070. The 4060 is very close to the base PlayStation 5, excluding machine learning and ray tracing, so you’re looking at the 4070.
The cheapest versions of these GPUs typically cost over $500, with the cost “escalating” after including a 2TB SSD, motherboard, case and other required PC parts. Leadbetter emphasized that the price of the PS5 Pro is still “crazy,” but the math is a bit complicated, plus the product is primarily aimed at existing PlayStation users who are unlikely to want to jump to PC and leave their existing game library behind. He also pointed out that this hardware jump from PS5 to PS5 Pro is smaller than Sony’s demonstrated shift from PS4 to PS4 Pro, which he attributed mainly to industry-wide efforts to reduce the cost of high-performance products.
What’s really annoying about the PS5 Pro?
Not everyone thinks Sony has put its best foot forward with the price of the PS5 Pro. one Opinion videos LinusTechTips’ revelations partly blame the lack of competition in the high-end console space. With the PS5 reportedly outselling the Xbox Series X/S by a two-to-one ratio, and the Switch 2 not being ready for prime time yet, the YouTube channel believes there’s less pressure on Sony to cut PS5 Pro profit margins and try to push it out. At a more attractive price point.
There is some analysis to support this argument. “With Microsoft not having a similar mid-generation upgrade and Nintendo’s upcoming console expected to be less powerful than the base PS5, Sony is positioning the PS5 Pro as a high-end product for console gamers looking for superior graphics at a relatively affordable price. Performance, not hefty price. Wrote Daniel Ahmad, director of research and insights at Niko Partners, said in a recent post on the subject.
The console is primarily aimed at existing PS5 owners who are locked into a living room gaming setup, and the Pro provides Sony with the opportunity to sell the most powerful console on the market to an audience that is “the most powerful console on the market.”Not price sensitive“Users are willing to spend extra money. “Manufacturing costs, including component prices such as solid-state drives, continue to remain high post-pandemic and squeeze hardware margins,” Ahmed wrote. “Lack of overall console setup compared to previous generations The expansion of the base also leads platform holders to maximize per-user spend and expand beyond the console.”
Even if Pro makes business sense for Sony, it won’t alleviate growing dissatisfaction with this generation’s PlayStation platform. Where the PS4 era was marked by low-cost debut hardware and the launch of first-party studio systems designed to produce one major blockbuster after another, the PS5 era means higher prices and less innovation and experimentation feel. astronomy robot is a shining exception In a sea of first-party sequels, these are impressive yet bloated compared to the novelty of their PS4-era predecessors.
Where are the new Sony franchises? In what ways does the PS5 blockbuster push the envelope not only in terms of graphics, but also in terms of storytelling, mechanics, and design? The big 2024 PlayStation reveal didn’t blow fans away; harmony, Live services are also running so out of sync Sony unceremoniously pulled the game from its player base within a month. In some ways, Sony is a victim of its own success and the lofty expectations that come with it. So far, the only thing that feels different about the PS5 Pro is its price.