Sony has just announced the PlayStation 5 Pro with details, features, and price point hosted by Mark Cerny. Digital technology consultant and keynote speaker...
I almost chocked on my coffee in the first 20 seconds :)
PS4 Pro was still obscenely underpowered. Jaguar was terrible at PS4’s original launch, and the boost on the Pro was marginal because it was still the same terrible underlying design.
Going into the PS5 pro, everyone projected this pricing, because it’s actually modern hardware and their costs have went up instead of down.
I imagine they’ll make money from the kinds of people who absolutely must have the latest and greatest available tech for everything. Personally, I wouldn’t bother even if money weren’t an issue.
Computing hardware when the PS4 and PS4 pro came out was still in the before times when new hardware meant doing more for the same money. It’s been a minute since those times and that isn’t really something Sony has any control over.
Meanwhile you also have a weird phenomenon that didn’t exist during the PS4 generation where you have a huge spike in inflation between your base console and pro launch. When the PS5 launched at cost $500, but $500 then is more than $600 now. The PS5 pro is really only $100 more in 2024 money than the PS5 was at launch.
Maybe Sony is making the wrong move here but understanding the market and economy as it is today, I’m not sure what else they could have done besides not launch a pro console at all.
There’s always a market for people who want the latest and greatest thing, so they’ll make money off of it, but since most people will have the base model (even more than those who stuck with a base PS4, I imagine), all games will be designed with that in mind.
I don’t agree with that really. I think PS5 games are already designed with the PS5 Pro in mind. We already have difference performance profiles where you can have 60FPS OR 4k OR Ray tracing.
If all the Pro means is being able to play 60FPS at 4k with Raytracing, the $700 price point would be very attractive. You won’t get that with a $700 PC that’s for sure.
PS4 was $400 at launch. PS4 Pro was $400 at launch.
Obviously tech is getting more expensive to produce instead of cheaper now, but still, a $200 markup from the base price is pretty damn huge.
PS4 Pro was still obscenely underpowered. Jaguar was terrible at PS4’s original launch, and the boost on the Pro was marginal because it was still the same terrible underlying design.
Going into the PS5 pro, everyone projected this pricing, because it’s actually modern hardware and their costs have went up instead of down.
I imagine they’ll make money from the kinds of people who absolutely must have the latest and greatest available tech for everything. Personally, I wouldn’t bother even if money weren’t an issue.
Computing hardware when the PS4 and PS4 pro came out was still in the before times when new hardware meant doing more for the same money. It’s been a minute since those times and that isn’t really something Sony has any control over.
Meanwhile you also have a weird phenomenon that didn’t exist during the PS4 generation where you have a huge spike in inflation between your base console and pro launch. When the PS5 launched at cost $500, but $500 then is more than $600 now. The PS5 pro is really only $100 more in 2024 money than the PS5 was at launch.
Maybe Sony is making the wrong move here but understanding the market and economy as it is today, I’m not sure what else they could have done besides not launch a pro console at all.
There’s always a market for people who want the latest and greatest thing, so they’ll make money off of it, but since most people will have the base model (even more than those who stuck with a base PS4, I imagine), all games will be designed with that in mind.
I don’t agree with that really. I think PS5 games are already designed with the PS5 Pro in mind. We already have difference performance profiles where you can have 60FPS OR 4k OR Ray tracing.
If all the Pro means is being able to play 60FPS at 4k with Raytracing, the $700 price point would be very attractive. You won’t get that with a $700 PC that’s for sure.
I think 60 fps at 4K with raytracing are maybe PS6 specs, not PS5 pro. I hope I’m wrong, but I’ll believe it when I see it.