Playstation 5 Pro is born: no compromise but the price is high

Sony has confirmed the existence of PS5 Pro. Uncompromised, more powerful and for true enthusiasts. Mark Cerny, PS5's Lead Architect, unveiled it during a live event on the Playstation Blog in 9 minutes, previewing what the mid-range console generation will look like. Let's start with the basics: PlayStation 5 Pro will be available from 7 November at a price of €799, €200 more than the Ps5. It fits into a console market that is going through a reflective moment with Nintendo preparing to launch the new Switich in March and Microsoft having to decide whether to bet on Xbox again or settle for being the world's biggest videogame publisher. Since its launch in November 2020, the PlayStation 5 has sold approximately 61.7 million units worldwide through August 2024. This figure includes approximately 7.45 million units sold in 2024 alone. It dominates the console market, surpassing its main rivals, such as the Xbox Series X|S, which has sold around 29.6 million units in total.

 Sony's engineers have upgraded the Gpu (67% more computing units than the current Ps5) and memory (+28%). Even more powerful ray tracing has been added, providing more dynamic reflection and refraction of light. This allows rays to be projected at double, and sometimes triple, the speed of the current PS5 console. Then an Ai-driven upscaling was introduced. It's called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution and promises to increase the graphics resolution of games automatically (as with Nvidia). Other enhancements include PS5 Pro Game Boost, which can be applied to more than 8,500 backwards compatible PS4 games playable on PS5 Pro. Also available is Enhanced Image Quality for PS4 games, which improves the resolution of certain PS4 games. As for size, finally, the new Ps5 has no different dimensions than the traditional one.

There doesn't seem to be any exclusive content planned exactly as there was for Ps4 Pro. It is an upgrade that perhaps comes in view of Gta VI, the most anticipated title ever in the console world. So for now, those 10-15% of Playstation gamers who don't want to compromise, i.e., as Cerny explained, they don't want to choose between resolution and frame rate but play with fidelity and very high quality, might be interested in investing €799.

The announcement of the Ps5 Pro also widely expected by the market has reignited the debate on the supposed death of home consoles. After the go-ahead for the Activision Blizzard acquisition that turned Microsoft into the world's biggest video game publisher, there are those who have suggested the end of the gaming machine market, but more generally the end of the idea of buying hardware to have access to exclusive titles. Services such as NVIDIA GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) and PlayStation Now allow gamers to access games via streaming without the need for powerful hardware. This reduces the need to buy expensive consoles. Furthermore, the numbers of the console market are not growing. Smartphones and tablets are becoming more powerful and are able to offer high-quality gaming experiences. The convenience and portability of mobile gaming are reducing the appeal of consoles. Subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus are changing the way gamers access games, shifting the focus from owning hardware to owning a vast library of games via subscription. What is changing the video game industry are the very high production costs. And a user base that over time no longer seems willing to invest EUR 80-90 for a single video game. With the entry of Nintendo Switch 2, the picture will perhaps become clearer.