Months of speculation and rumors have finally come to an end as Sony officially announced the PlayStation 5 Pro and its November 7, 2024 release date. Aside from questions surrounding what the technical improvements the PS5 Pro would be, the biggest question mark concerned its price, and now we know that it’ll cost $700 in the U.S. Just like the PS4 Pro before it, the PS5 Pro is a refreshed version of the original PS5 that came out in 2020 and features some technical improvements. But the $700 price tag has raised eyebrows and is the biggest point of contention many have with the console, myself included.
To be clear, I don’t necessarily think that the price is horrible for what it’s offering from a technical perspective. The PS5 Pro boasts a 2TB SSD and is touting a better GPU that’ll provide higher frame rates in Fidelity Modes and higher resolution in Performance Modes, advanced ray tracing for better lighting and reflections, and Sony’s AI-driven upscaling technology called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution to provide more detail on screen. I’m by no means a tech wiz, but I do know that getting these features in a console at a level that’s comparable to high-end PCs is going to require a fair amount of money. That said, the benefits of these features haven’t shown themselves to be worth the high asking price.
For sure, being able to play games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 or The Last of Us Part II Remastered at 60 FPS with the bells and whistles of Fidelity Mode turned up to the max would be great, but is that something worth shelling out so much money for, especially when they play perfectly fine and look amazing at 30 FPS? Ray tracing is great, but will it be a night and day difference when compared to a game running on a base PS5? The extra pixels of detail I would get from PSSR are cool, but am I really going to see the difference while I’m playing when I’d have to zoom in tight on a scene and pixel peep to notice them? My answer to each of these questions is a resounding no. The base PS5 has done a great job with the games that have come out for it, and there really haven’t been many games that make me feel like the console is being pushed so hard that it needs an extra little bit of power.
It’s a different story from the PS4 Pro, which did face some of the same criticisms regarding how necessary it was, but the features it brought were at least much more tangible and novel at the time. 4K resolutions were just starting to enter the mainstream in 2016, as well as HDR content. The PS4 was also being pushed much harder back then, so the performance improvements were quite notable. The PS4 Pro was a console about catching up and future-proofing until the PS5 arrived, whereas the PS5 Pro feels like a console that’s being done because it’s expected, not because it’s needed.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that the PS5 Pro will be a digital console, so if you want to use any discs with it, you’ll have to purchase the separately sold disc drive attachment for $80. Oh, and if you want the vertical stand, that’ll run you another $30. So for the full PS5 Pro experience, it’ll cost $810 before tax. With tax, you’re looking at a price that’s over $850, which is wildly expensive for the console space. We haven’t had a console this expensive since Sony themselves released the 60 GB PS3 for $600. We all know how that turned out for them, which makes this price especially ballsy.
At the same time, we’re in a different world than we were back then. It’s a different world than the one the PS4 Pro launched into. We’re accustomed to buying phones every year that are incremental upgrades over the last one for prices that start at a minimum of $700. So while charging that much for a gaming console is insane when you say it out loud, it’s not so far-fetched when you put in perspective that people will pay big money for the technology they want. And unfortunately, high-end consoles aren’t getting cheaper nowadays. They’re only getting more expensive.
The thing about the PS5 Pro is that it’s clearly meant for a very specific audience. It’s for the diehard fans who want the bleeding edge of Sony’s gaming hardware and the simplicity that comes with it, as well as those who have yet to purchase a PS5 and want the best version of it. If you fall into one of those two camps, then the PS5 Pro likely looks like a no-brainer purchase. But if you already have a PS5 and have been happy with what you’ve gotten out of it, then you probably weren’t going to get a PS5 Pro anyway. Not unless it was close to the price of the current PS5, and that’s something that, unfortunately, was never going to be the case.
I’m not in either target audience for the PS5 Pro and that’s okay. I didn’t get a PS4 Pro at launch because, on top of not being able to afford it, I also felt it was unnecessary to me. I did eventually get one thanks to a trade-in deal I took advantage of, but I wouldn’t have even done that if it wasn’t for Kingdom Hearts III. And to be completely honest with myself here, it would take games like Grand Theft Auto VI or Kingdom Hearts IV, games that are at the top of my most anticipated list, for me to even consider the idea of getting a PS5 Pro. It’s a sentiment that I imagine is shared by others who also don’t feel like the PS5 Pro is worth the money to them right now.
At the end of the day, I’m not vehemently angry at the price of the PS5 Pro, nor am I trying to tell you that you shouldn’t buy one. I’m simply shocked at the price. There’s a market for this device (even if it’s a small one), so it’s sure to sell within expectations. Ampere Analysis is predicting it’ll sell 1.3 million units in the launch window and 13 million units by 2029. These numbers are comparable to the PS4 Pro’s sales numbers of 1.7 million at launch and 14.5 million throughout its life. If it appeals to you and you can afford it, then by all means, splurge and enjoy all that it brings you. At the same time, I also don’t think you’ll be missing out on anything too revolutionary and game-changing if you choose to save your $700.
TheComfySpot 