Sony has just announced the PS5 Pro during a nine-minute presentation led by Mark Cerny. The internet has since exploded at the pricing of the console; that’s because the PS5 Pro will cost a whopping $699.99 – £699.99 – €799.99. But is it worth the price tag?
The PS5 Pro will have three major upgrades: advanced ray tracing, a beefier GPU, and AI upscaling technology. Some may say that those upgrades warrant the price alone, and perhaps under different circumstances they might be right. But there are a few things to note here.
Firstly, we are living in a time where there is a cost of living crisis spreading throughout the UK and Europe. As I understand it, it’s not so different in the US. Bills and inflation are high, and wages aren’t going up to compensate. With Sony asking this much, customers need to see the value. Perhaps they should have announced a brand new exclusive game to go along with this announcement.
Another thing is that the PS5 Pro is a disc-less console. If you want the drive, it must be purchased separately. I understand that margins are important, but I feel like that $700 price would be slightly more acceptable with a disc drive (and stand) included.
But despite the unwanted steep price, the PS5 Pro will certainly pack a punch for PlayStation gamers. The PS5 Pro’s GPU has 67% more computing cores, with 28% faster RAM and 45% faster rendering. The AI upscaler, called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, will work across the entire game library without any patch. It even adds additional details to boost the 4K resolution upscale.
It’s a significant bump from the base PS5, but have we received enough quality PlayStation exclusives to warrant this? Let’s not ignore the fact that the PS6 is already in early development. Hopefully, Sony has a special lineup of content planned for those who are genuinely interested in the power of the PS5 Pro.
The PS5 Pro launches on November 7th, 2024. Watch this space for more news.
