PS5 Pro Launch: Is It Worth the $700 Price Tag?

[Music] welcome back to next gen console watch our show following everything happening

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

to be a an Xbox series XX coming later but at least with the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One

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

the next Xbox because I think now the floor is 7 and I know people on Twitter pointed

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

proper nextg so I just I don't see Xbox next or PlayStation 6 being less than $700

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

about over $800 for the system as a side note I have a question I have a launch PS5 with

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

disc drive you have to buy the disc drive again separately so that that stings extra right

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

there's more than those two at this price point is is anybody's

guess well it'll be very interesting to see what happens when this launches uh in just about a couple months now uh

very very expensive new hardware possibly setting a scary precedent for what actual nextg

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

with the latest gaming Hardware news we'll see you then [Music]