On the eve of the PS5 Pro reveal, Sony’s Mark Cerny introduced it, and the internet is in agreement: The price is outrageous or a very late April Fool’s joke – those are still mild statements. For 800 euros, you get more than double the power compared to the current PS5, if we’re only going by fps numbers and visual quality. However, we’re also paying almost twice as much as for the Digital Edition of the Playstation 5 Slim, which is listed by Sony for a suggested retail price of 449.99 euros.
Legitimate Criticism from Disc Collectors
Even the PS5 Slim Digital Edition lacks a disc drive and vertical stand. Like the PS5 Pro, these can be added optionally for around 120 plus 30 euros, if you don’t choose the disc version to save 20 euros. Yes, we’re then talking about up to 600 or 950 euros – for a four-year-old Playstation generation. At such high expenditures, the stand is likely quickly overlooked, clicked into the cart, and forgotten. However, with a physical game collection, the drive unfortunately becomes a necessity. Most disc lovers probably don’t care that the future is digital.
One can rightfully be upset that when upgrading, you have to pay more because you chose a PS5 with a disc drive from the start. With the new Slim consoles, you can still use a drive. However, with a fixed drive on an older PS5, the DRM copy protection on the PS5 Pro will complain. From the perspective of a model business graduate, this is probably entirely acceptable. Those saving money on used purchases or in the software pyramid apparently have the resources for accessories. However, from a Playstation fan’s perspective, this is at least a questionable decision.
PS5 Pro vs. PS4 Pro
But it should be noted: The added value of older games, some four years or more, like The Last of Us 2 not lagging and looking a bit nicer isn’t an argument from Sony aimed at the average Playstation fan. The target audience is the so-called hardcore gamer, who must want (!) to spend significantly more money for a few more pixels. An ambitious e-sports player will likely be able to quickly justify more performance in shooters or racing simulations as well.
That euro, pound, and yen amounts stand out so strongly compared to the still tax-exempt dollar price must be accepted – as unfair as it may seem. What should also be accepted is that you cannot compare the PS5 Pro with the PS4 Pro – which at the time was a genuine mid-gen upgrade for the gaming community, launching with new hardware (PS VR, for example) and especially many new and still exclusive games.
The world was slightly different in 2016, both economically and in the Playstation cosmos. The fourth generation was only three years old. Many great titles were still to come. Think of Horizon: Zero Dawn, which showcased the PS4 Pro early on; or later Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, Spider-Man, and all the Classics.
For the PS5 Pro, there is almost nothing coming up in the near future if we think in the dimensions of the titles just mentioned. Actually, we only hope that GTA 6 comes out by 2025. And whether that will run optimally on the Playstation 5 generation, including the PS5 Pro, we don’t yet know. If we take Rockstar Games’ cycle for new iterations of its best-selling franchises into account, we will probably still be thinking about GTA 6 well into 2035. Considering that GTA 5 was first released for PS3 and Xbox 360, we can be a bit more certain:
No One Dies if They Skip the PS5 Pro
We’re sticking our necks out and saying: The PS4 Pro often boosted PS4 games that were borderline performant just before its launch, adding new details that gave a stronger “next-gen” character. The PS5 does not seem to us (yet) to be at its limit, unlike the PS4 after its first three years.
And the PS5 Pro? As of now, it only makes playable titles a bit better to play. As stated: You have to want to afford that first. No one dies if they skip the PS5 Pro. Personally, I will do without and probably wait for the Playstation 6 – unless the next Horizon or Spider-Man comes around the corner.
PS5 Technical Presentation hosted by Mark Cerny
Source: Sony
The presentation of the PS5 will last nine minutes.