PS5 Pro Launch: Is It Worth the $700 Price Tag?
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Introduction
The gaming industry is buzzing with excitement over the recent announcement of the PS5 Pro, which is set to launch on November 7th at a whopping $700 price point. With its upgraded GPU and additional features, the PS5 Pro promises improved performance and sharper images. But is it worth the hefty price tag? In this article, we will delve into the key features of the new console, discuss its potential impact on the gaming market, and analyze whether consumers will benefit from this upgrade.
Key Features of the PS5 Pro
The PS5 Pro has created a stir in the gaming community, not just because of its advanced capabilities, but also due to its high price, which seems to be raising more questions than excitement. Here are some of the prominent features of the PS5 Pro:
1. Enhanced GPU
The PS5 Pro sports a significantly upgraded GPU with 67% more compute units compared to the standard PS5. This enhancement is expected to deliver up to 45% faster rendering for gameplay, providing a smoother experience for players.
2. Faster Memory
In addition to its improved GPU, the PS5 Pro features 28% faster memory, which will help in loading times and overall game performance, enabling players to enjoy high-quality graphics and responsive gameplay.
3. PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution
One of the standout features of the PS5 Pro is the introduction of PlayStation spectral super resolution. This AI-driven upscaling tool utilizes machine learning to ensure super sharp image clarity in games, providing a truly immersive gaming experience.
4. Larger Storage Capacity
The PS5 Pro comes with a 2TB hard drive, an upgrade from the original PS5 which had an 825GB SSD. This increase will allow players to store more games and content without the constant worry of running out of space.
5. No Bundle or Stand Included
Despite its high price, the PS5 Pro does not include a disc drive or vertical stand, which are increasingly becoming necessary for console setups. Players wanting to utilize physical media will need to budget for an additional disc drive or will be limited to digital downloads.
Price Analysis: Is It Worth It?
At $700, the PS5 Pro is certainly positioned as a premium console. However, many gamers are questioning whether the new features justify the cost.
Public Sentiment
Early polls suggest that 74% of players feel the PS5 Pro is too expensive. The lack of compelling exclusive games at launch and the recent increase in console prices have left many consumers feeling uncertain about upgrading.
Industry Comparisons
When comparing the PS5 Pro to its predecessor, the PS4 Pro, which launched at a lower price, many are perplexed by the current pricing strategy. The PS5 initially launched at $500, and with the current generation also providing 4K gaming, the added value of the PS5 Pro isn't immediately clear.
Challenges Ahead for Sony
While the technology behind the PS5 Pro is impressive, several challenges loom ahead for Sony over the next few months:
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Lack of Exclusive Titles: The absence of major first-party titles at the time of the PS5 Pro's launch could deter potential buyers. With no new groundbreaking titles expected soon, gamers may prefer to hold onto their current systems.
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Market Saturation: Considering the vast number of PS5 consoles on the market already, the question arises as to who will be willing to upgrade at such a high cost right now.
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Consumer Trends: With numerous players expressing their hesitance to shell out $700, Sony may find itself needing to revisit its pricing strategy to ensure competitiveness within the gaming console market.
Conclusion
The PS5 Pro stands as a refinement of existing technology rather than a revolutionary leap forward. Higher resolution and enhanced frame rates are great, but without specific titles that target these advancements effectively, the upgrade seems unnecessary for many. Players are left wondering whether the merits of the PS5's new capabilities justify the steep price. As November approaches, only time will tell how many gamers will take the plunge into this new generation of Sony hardware.
Will you be buying the PS5 Pro? Or does the $700 price tag deter you from upgrading? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
with the latest gaming hardware and there is some stuff happening with the latest gaming Hardware today I'm Jamon
Hatfield as always I'm joined by Max Scoville host of 's PlayStation podcast podcast beyond hello hello and Ryan
mcaffry host of IGN's Xbox podcast Podcast Unlocked always a pleasure and what a couple weeks it's been for uh
Playstation first there's the whole Concord debacle and now we finally know it's official the PS5 Pro is real and
it's real expensive and it's coming this November November 7th to be exactly so it costs
$700 and it does not come with a disc drive or a vertical stand what that $700 does get you is an upgraded GPU with 67%
more compute units than the current PS5 console 28% faster memory uh Sony says this enables up to 45% faster rendering
ing for gameplay making the experience much smoother they also said they've added more powerful Ray tracing and
they're introducing PlayStation spectral super resolution which is an AI driven upscaling tool uses machine learning to
provide super sharp image Clarity so that's it that's the PS5 Pro that's what uh the extra $200 gets you
and doesn't get you and right at the gate I think the general consensus is that this thing just seems really
expensive and isn't really solving a problem for anyone considering the vast majority of PS5 games you know either
they can be played on a PS4 Star Wars Jedi Survivor for example comes to PS4 next week and there just aren't a lot of
titles that really seem to be taking full advantage of the PS5 that many of us have had for four years already now
so max what was your initial reaction to the news about the PS5 Pro I I think very much the same as
everyone else is that it's way too expensive but uh you know the the sort of caveat there is I think for what the
technology you're looking at like it's not too expensive but it's more that they haven't give and given any reason
to justify that technology uh again like they they showcase the r tracing in Jedi Survivor which was touted as a nextg
game and literally next week it is coming to PS4 so it's kind of weird to be you know showing off this PlayStation
5.5 by also being like Oh by the way this game comes out to you know 10 12 year old Hardware next week uh again
it's they didn't show us anything new in terms of games which again was a Showcase of Technology this was they
were showing off what their Hardware can do but the point of the device is to is to play games and these are games a lot
of people have already played and sure they look they look better but these side by-side comparisons are so so
granular that it really just doesn't there's no you know there's no wow factor here it's very much it feels like
one of those what's wrong with this picture can you spot 10 differences type of you know children's Magazine puzzles
um no I just it's a it's a drag because I remember when the you know the PlayStation 4 Pro came out that the the
questions that that was answering or the the problems that that was fixing was a lack of HDR and a lack of 4K support in
this case the PS5 allegedly launched with 8K support but nobody has an 8K TV so that's sort of a non-issue apparently
they took the 8K logo off the launch model box you won't find that on the slim the PS5 Pro can do 8K they didn't
even mention that because it's such a non-issue that no one's even looking ahead that far uh the only I think the
only like positive thing about this out the gate is that it's got a two terab hard drive which is a subst improvement
over the what is it 82580 gigs right yeah it's it's uh Petty but uh again for how much money it is it really just
feels like a big ask of consumers it feels you know I'm just going to say it it feels like the announce announcement
of the the PS3 price the infamous uh you know yeah you need you need to get a second job to buy this thing this is
this is Sony huis at its finest and it's extremely frustrating because when the PS4 Pro shown off I remember and I you
know maybe fact check me on this but I remember that they in addition to showing games we'd already seen in
action they also teased upcoming games which was kind of like oh you want to play this new upcoming game well here's
a machine that's going to let you do it this thing is obviously going to be great for playing games like GTA 6
that's a big one uh presumably insomniacs Wolverine will take great advantage of this new hardware we
haven't seen anything of that game officially unleaked at least uh and I'm Rockstar is definitely playing things
close to the chess we haven't seen anything of GTA in action since that that one big reveal trailer so like
again there it's a it's an impressive piece of Hardware I think but it's it's just such a it's such a such a baffling
sort of just out of touch thing to announce right now yeah it could very well be that that $700 price tag is
reasonable for what it is especially if you compared it to a PC that you could build for the same price but like I was
saying it just like it just doesn't seem to be solving any problem that anyone has already so you know why why would
anybody want to upgrade although Ryan on for um Xbox's consideration they can no longer say they have the world's most
powerful console that is very true yeah that is true although look at the sales numbers how how much is that really done
for them anyway um granted I think Xbox's problems weren't really and still aren't Hardware their Hardware power
their lack of of high quality exclusive games which seems to that ship finally seems to be turned in the corner but uh
but yeah this this presentation like the PS4 Pro and the Xbox series X that came later this time there there doesn't seem
X you had 4K you just that was like this very tangible thing everybody was buying 4K TVs at that time you know their first
4K TV it was it was a really obvious thing that you could point to and go well this console can run your games in
4k now the PS5 Pro it's just the benefits are so much further in the weeds that it's it's tough to to pick
them out I mean this presentation did not sell did not do a good job of selling the PS5 Pro in my opinion it it
basically amounted to mark cery saying well stuff in the background is clearer and your frame rate's a little better
and then I was shocked that they gave the price at the end of this thing because I was expecting six and then
when we were talking was it last week's episode or the one before about the the price increases on on Playstation in
Japan and I thought okay well I guess 650 might be in play I honestly did was not expecting seven at all that seven is
I did not think they would go there uh so this this was it just didn't it didn't sell this thing and then when I
sat with it more my real concern now I should caveat by saying I am on record on this show saying that I will buy one
of these specifically for GTA 6 I'm still G to do that I'm G to trade in my PS5 for
whatever a retailer will give me at the time to take a little bit of the sting out because I just think GTA is going to
be that special I mean GTA 5 was for me but but um my bigger concern here isn't so much dunking on the $700 price which
it's getting dunked on today uh as as we record the day that this announcement happened and it should be dunked on but
my bigger concern is what about the price expectation now for the actual nextg the PlayStation 6 great point and
back to well the PS3 was 600 and then we walked back down the price ladder from there the PS3 I think was an outlier it
was the cell processor Sony's whole in-house custom chip everything's these are just PCS now so the architecture is
different the marketplace is different and but when we can look at what history tells us the PS4 Pro was 400 when it
launched then the PS 5 came along at 500 the Xbox 1 x which came a year after the PS4 Pro the 1X was 500 and then the
series X launched at 500 as well so neither one went in the downward direction from midgen refresh to the
and they could be more and so that's the that's the scarier piece of this as far as console gaming goes now you have to
give Microsoft some credit here for as as much as it gets dunked on and hated on the series s is is kind of looking
better every day yes it's it's limited horsepower wise but it at least offers a reasonably priced entry point into this
generation of console games which Sony is not currently offering and we'll see if either one of them offers something
like that in the Next Generation but as far as if you want sort of the the the the high-end console for for nextg when
we get an official start to the next gen we're probably looking at $700 plus for it and that's without it that'll be
without a disc drive although Maybe by then we none of us will really care but it's uh it's it's kind of a a a chilling
precedent to set here I think well on the flip side will you need one for a while because you know on the one hand
this could be a PS5 Pro or it could be a ps6 series s if it's sort of this stop Gap mid-range thing uh the fact that
they they demonstrated this this system by showing gameplay of a lot of games that are out on PS4 doesn't really
doesn't really sell a PS5 Pro let alone A PS5 it's it's kind of saying hey if you haven't jumped on this console
generation quite yet you're not really missing out that much and again we see so many things cross they showed off the
rate tracing at Hogwarts Legacy if you don't care about rate tracing you can play that game on switch it's a it's a
it's a non-issue uh to the to the price point discussion too like the the fact that everyone is coming out of this just
a gape at the fact that it is $700 or 800 EUR the it is it is so expensive even if it is a good value for
what you're getting in terms of actual Hardware there is no other conversation people are having no one is like wow but
this thing is pretty cool to say that the the improvements are in the weeds they are literally in the weeds they are
in the nose beds they are details in the crowd this is for people who cannot see the forest for the trees and really want
to be able to see the trees better because they have been AI upscaled so that the leaves have better
anti-aliasing or whatever like it's such a specific granular Improvement or at least that's what it looks like in terms
of how they're they're showcasing it that it it doesn't like it doesn't necessitate itself at
all again this is a new this is a new video game system that's really powerful we're we're all we're all nerds we're
all Gamers that's the stuff that gets us excited there is no I don't see anyone excited about this for any reason like
Mark cery seems like the most excited person about this which is again kind of uh kind of a drag because like I want to
be I want to be excited I would love it if I was not feeling sour grapes or if I was feeling sour grapes about this I'd
love to try to justify myself how why I don't need to spend $700 but feel like they kind of did that for me because
yeah until we see like a really cool Cutting Edge game that has a substantial substantial better performance on this
and I'm again I'm sure digital Foundry is going to tear this thing apart and be like here's how much more awesome games
look on this thing that's cool but also like is that a is that a deal breaker do games need to look that good is the
problem with gaming right now the fact that you cannot see the little uh lombaxes in the in the nose bed section
of the the parade bleachers in Ratchet and Clank which came out four years ago or is it the fact that games take eight
years to make and they're they're they can't sustain themselves like I again I feel like there's this sort of arms race
for having the most powerful Hardware but that's not what creates good games you know if anything that trying to
trying to make sure that you can see all of like you know aloy's pores is what makes it so that it's takes so much
longer for games to come out and ultimately like I don't I think people would be perfectly happy with uh games
well people would still complain about it they'd say you can't see the Reflections in the Hogwarts dining hall
floor or whatever they get mad about the puddles and Spider-Man but the actual the actual gamer you know a lot of
people just play play stuff on their phone it's it's it's a it's a nonissue I I don't know I it's it's a drag like it
makes me really kind of um kind of worried about this the state of what what PlayStation has moving forward
because it is so it is such a sort of a you know hubristic uh it's the Homer the car built for Homer like it's such a
completely like just pretentious expensive thing to show off be like we made this and this is why you need it
and it's I I I want to feel like I need it but I don't and that's just ah yeah well and and to your point earlier Max
about about uh sort of Sony's software situation the timing of this is not good because they by their own admission they
have nothing really coming from first party for a while yep so if if they had you again if I mean I'm sure Sony asked
Rockstar and begged and pleaded can we like would would the reception of this today had been any different if there
were a 10 second clip of GTA 6 running on the PS5 Pro I don't know maybe not maybe the sticker shock still overwhelms
it but you know or a 10-second clip of of Wolverine either or both but but yeah this this coupled with the very very uh
dry desert of first-party gaming that that PlayStation is facing right now is uh it's a tough combination for for the
look of this thing for the Optics on it for sure yeah we have we have some early data already that gamers are going to be
hesitant to jump on board with the PS5 Pro a PO is throwing on IGN right now with already has 26,000 votes as at the
time of this taping is the PS5 Pro reasonably priced 74% say it's way too expensive near three quarters of
respondents say it's way too expensive we should also mention that $700 no disc drive no vertical stand if you want to
play your disc games if you want to you know use it vertically this monstrosity of a console that's now you're talking
a disc if I bought the pro I just can't play my disc games right unless I buy this accessory right right exactly I
mean by the add-on the add-on disc drive and also if you tra if you trade in your your launch your launch PS5 with the
there yeah there's just like I to me I I don't really see any incentive I don't think Sony's giving people much of a
reason to buy this when I look at those side-by-side comparison the comparisons and their presentation I don't see a
$200 difference in in those uh ver of those games we also have a poll running simply will you buy a PS5 Pro up to
14,000 votes as of this taping 70% say no it's too expensive so what do we think this come this thing comes out
November 7th you think I think it goes up for pre-order later this month Max are they going to
sell out the PS5 Pro I mean that depends how many they're making uh the PS4 Pro I think that's sold about about the same
as the Wii U which doesn't you know doesn't seem great numbers wise but it's also building on the existing user base
of PS4 so it all kind of gets lumped together there uh other thing is they they could have if even if they weren't
selling PS5 Pros like I feel like if the PS5 had gotten a price cut today that would have sold some ps5s good point too
we didn't get that uh yeah I'm I I'm sure they will find a good way of of fudging the numbers I mean they told us
the psvr2 outsold the predecessor what does that mean you know yeah I mean I guess it did but is
it is that thing doing well is that alive and kicking the the PlayStation portal was a apparently a hit apparently
did better than they expected anecdotally everybody I know who got one of those really likes it it's pretty
cool and I kind of came around on it too but it's also like if if it's not if it's like a a niche product for like a
very select audience then yeah I mean it the demand should exceed your supply uh as far as this being something to wake
up at you know six o'clock on a a weekday for to to catch the the big reveal it's just it this this could have
been a blog post you know I think there will be an initial Spike of sales on launch day for just
that contingent of early adopters that just want it no matter what or maybe some people that are still on a PS4 or
PS4 Pro that haven't bought a PS5 yet that have decided okay yep it's a lot but I'm this will this will be my entry
into the PS5 generation and then I think sales will completely Flatline m until GTA 6 gets a firm release date and then
that's when I'll jump in that's when I'll trade mine in I think there'll be a spike then again I don't know how
relatively high that Spike would be but relative to where sales will normally be and then after that your guess is as
good as mine I so that's I I think it's just going to be there's going to be two waves of demand for this uh and whether
guess well it'll be very interesting to see what happens when this launches uh in just about a couple months now uh
consoles are going to cost and not really giving a whole lot of reason why anyone would need it but you know there
are a lot of there are a lot of PlayStation fans out there so we'll see what Happ guess they don't have to worry
about osbor sales of the PS5 by announcing this two months before it comes out because I don't think
anybody's gonna not NE gonna pass over a PS5 to wait for the $700 version but viewers we want to know what
you feel about all this we do have these two plls up we're going to keep those plls up on ign.com all week is the PS5
Pro reasonably reasonably priced and will you buy a PS5 Pro uh voice make sure your voice is heard vote.com
sometime this week and that's going to do it for this edition of NextGen console watch very exciting times
recently I like we have lots of exciting stuff to talk about thank you to both Ryan and Max thank you to everyone
working behind the scenes to make this episode possible here in our La Studio my name is Damon we'll be back next week