PlayStation 5 Pro: Coming November 2024, $700/€800

  • Thread starter Jtheripper
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To be fair I do think PS5 Pro is aimed at a subset of PS5 early adopters, and most will trade in their existing PS5's. For someone buying their first system they can still pick up the base model. I find it strange how some are extremely price sensitive but refuse to trade in their current machine. I could understand if it was a generational change, but this is an upgrade.
Yes, the PS5 Pro itself is aimed at both existing PS5 owners and new buyers. Meanwhile, the price tag needs to reflect the fact it’s a better console than the PS5 regardless of whether you already own one or not.
 
I know you're trying very hard across multiple threads to tell people that a ~60% price increase for a memed barely perceptible quality difference even among Sony's cherry-picked first party games (likely in part because of how terrible the presentation was handled) is actually good because of mumblings about "state of the art" (it's not) or car color choices (?); but this "we don't know how good we have it because of inflation" sentiment is something I can directly comment on this time because I was around when this actually happened:

How did the public respond to the PS3 price reveal at the 2006 Sony E3 conference? While keeping in mind that the PS3 represented a substantially larger generational leap than any following generation (even if it was weaker than the 360 in practice) while also being a very cheap Blu Ray player at launch, are you under the impression that that system wasn't a punching bag in the industry for a third of its life until Sony essentially completely rebranded it after forcing out everyone in the company who was involved with the debacle? Because if you think people took Five Hundred Ninety-Nine US Dollars any better in 2006 than they are taking "$700 without a disc drive or stand" in 2024 then I got some bad news for you.
I was a member of the public in 2006 and I purchased a PS3 in shiny piano black with nice memory card flap on its first availability. I was very happy with it.
I am also a member of the public in 2024 that will buy the pre-order of the PS5 Pro.
I also purchased a new Amstrad CPC6128 from Dixons when it came out. I enjoyed that too. It even had a disc drive. I'm not completely stupid. I have never purchased an Apple product.
BTW behold dixons 1985
 
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Yeah, I'm not convinced at all.

As I see it, what Sony is effectively doing is asking their consumer base to pay $200 to get rid of Performance Mode and grant an imo slightly better graphical and load time upgrade over the already visually-impressive and (as I understand it) pretty quick base PS5 system. In exchange, you lose the ability to play physical media, unless you pay an additional ~$80 to get back a feature that's included as standard on the model that's $200 cheaper, which is just absolute dogwater on its own. It's also a little wild that Sony is announcing the console for this holiday season without a single new first-party IP to help promote it.

Meanwhile, the Men in Green will soon be able to sell you a 2TB version of the Series X, with a disc drive, for $600. Considering that the only difference between that and the regular Series X is a memory upgrade, it's not exactly a hot deal, especially for consumers that already run a Series X, and that the proprietary SSD upgrades are still more expensive than a NvME SSD. Even with that, comparing the two, unless you're someone who is dead-set on playing Sony's exclusive titles and nothing else, the PS5 Pro is a worse deal. And if you are dead-set on playing Sony's exclusive titles, the Disc-Drive PS5, or even the Digital one for those that don't care about physical media, is still incredibly capable, and shows no signs of becoming obsolete any time soon. That's in spite of Sony putting a strange amount of effort today to make the normal PS5 seem like an outdated piece of garbage.

Also, While I 100% get that there's a completely different level of technology in the PS4 compared to the PS5, I feel like it's worth noting that when the PS4 Pro came out, it also retailed for $400, the same as the original model PS4, despite the upgraded hardware in the system that allowed it to output games in 4K resolution, but otherwise had no major change in overall function. The $700 price tag is also significantly more than the jump in price from previous gen to current gen, while being nowhere near the same level of difference that an actual generational gap gave us. I get that the tech upgrades are probably the lions share of the price increase, I have a hard time believing that the average consumer will really be able to tell the graphical difference between the consoles, much less justify spending another $200 for it.

I guess they gotta cover the Concord failure somehow.
 
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I'm buying one. Sold my PS5 a few months ago in protest against PD and their crappy updates to GT7, and now I sort of miss making liveries and going for a drive every once in a while, so might as well go with the Pro instead of buying another standard PS5. I only had the digital version before so no disk drive is not a deal breaker for me. And then I'll be in good hands when GTA6 drops.
 
I was a member of the public in 2006 and I purchased a PS3 in shiny piano black with nice memory card flap on its first availability. I was very happy with it.
I am also a member of the public in 2024 that will buy the pre-order of the PS5 Pro.
I also purchased a new Amstrad CPC6128 from Dixons when it came out. I enjoyed that too. It even had a disc drive. I'm not completely stupid. I have never purchased an Apple product.
BTW behold dixons 1985

I'm glad you're so financially stable that you saw the Linkin Park and Kaz Hirai memes and said "I don't care I'm going to play Ridge Racer 7," but I can't help but notice you didn't answer the question.
 
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I do broadly agree that beyond the bad execution of the presentation, it sticks out most to me as very weird that the actual main transformative thing about this system (theoretical greatly improved PSSR upscaling vs FSR2 upscaling implementation that is largely responsible for the problems people have with image quality this console generation) was largely glossed over.
Especially if it can be backported to existing PS5 games with very little development active effort, that's a very big deal and much more notable than "First Party games that already had great image quality will now have great image quality" that the presentation spent much more time on.
 
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Why on earth is this 799 EUR? :boggled:


IMG_1998.jpeg
 
really be able to tell the graphical difference between the consoles,
If drawing distance is going to increase, you wont be able to enjoy a normal PS5 anymore.

If the promise of instant loading was a selling point of the normal PS5, then current games are already overtaxing its hardware.

I still am wondering about the price though:
why let go of a disc drive (to save money) but then add more storage space (yet I do understand that 500GB is basically nothing).

US prices are excluding VAT?
Dont know it this is regional or national, but yes, the US doesnt (always?) include taxes into sales prices, which is why it propably looks more to be expensive for EU in comparision.
 
Meanwhile, the Men in Green will soon be able to sell you a 2TB version of the Series X, with a disc drive, for $600. Considering that the only difference between that and the regular Series X is a memory upgrade, it's not exactly a hot deal, especially for consumers that already run a Series X, and that the proprietary SSD upgrades are still more expensive than a NvME SSD. Even with that, comparing the two, unless you're someone who is dead-set on playing Sony's exclusive titles and nothing else, the PS5 Pro is a worse deal. And if you are dead-set on playing Sony's exclusive titles, the Disc-Drive PS5, or even the Digital one for those that don't care about physical media, is still incredibly capable, and shows no signs of becoming obsolete any time soon. That's in spite of Sony putting a strange amount of effort today to make the normal PS5 seem like an outdated piece of garbage.
Series X 2TB is a competitor to the standard PS5.

PS5 Pro will offer a substantial performance jump, arguably even bigger for 3rd Party titles that often use FSR2 and very low base resolutions. Sony 1st Party titles are always well optimised across all hardware, PS5 Pro just gives the best of both worlds (Quality & Performance).

This machine is not for the average consumer. Although, ironically, I do think visual differences from PS5 to PS5 Pro will be more noticeable than the jump from 1080p to 4K on PS4 Pro. It's for the 15-20% who are willing to pay for the best and have likely already had 4 years use out of the base PS5. Trade that in and it's another £400 outlay for 4 years (or more) use.

 
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As long as I can fit an SSD to it like my PS5 has got I'll be up for getting one come November.
 
I can't remember the last time I bought a game on disc. For PS5 never, for PS4 Pro - Destiny 2 came with it as a disc. I traded it in for something an Alien game. I can't remember buying a game on disc for the PS4. It's a none issue for me that it doesn't come with a disc drive.
 
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If drawing distance is going to increase, you wont be able to enjoy a normal PS5 anymore.

If the promise of instant loading was a selling point of the normal PS5, then current games are already overtaxing its hardware.
Admittedly I don't own a PS5, but at the same time I can't think of any major modern game that I've played or even heard about on either PS5 or the Series X where draw distance has truly been a noticeable issue. In fact, the only "new" game I've recently played with significant draw distance/rendering issues was, of all things, Pokemon Arceus.

For me personally, better draw distance isn't quite enough to make me justify spending that extra $200. Since I grew up with and still semi-regularly play old PS1, 2 and 3 games, I'm one of those weirdos where relatively poor draw distance, and 30 FPS for that matter, aren't instant deal-breakers. Not everyone playing modern games has the eye for detail of the team running Digital Foundry.

Similarly, faster load times from what we currently have also doesn't sway me that much. Almost all of the current-gen games I regularly play load plenty quick as it is (with the notable exception of NFS Unbound) on my Series X, and I have a hard time believing that the Base PS5 lags significantly behind, if at all, in that department. To that extent, I have a really hard time seeing that whatever gains are made in loading time will be truly eye-watering.
I still am wondering about the price though:
why let go of a disc drive (to save money) but then add more storage space (yet I do understand that 500GB is basically nothing).
I'm assuming the price difference is the combination of the upgraded SSD, alongside the extra GPU upgrades in the Pro. Even with that, imo the disc drive at least should be included at that price point. It give the idea of the PS5 Pro being a significant upgrade over the base models a much stronger foundation, because otherwise it only exists as a $300 upgrade over the digital version.

IMO, the only upgrade that actually has some lasting significance with the Pro is the 2TB SSD from factory, and I also think in the long-run, it'd be a lot easier overall to sell the PS5 Pro if Sony ate the cost of the Disc Drive.

Series X 2TB is a competitor to the standard PS5.
Yes, but the 2TB SSD does put it in a similar spotlight to the PS5 Pro, and as such will invite some cross-shopping between the Pro and the Series X, despite the Series Xs relative lack of power. At that point, the main thing that helps the PS5 Pro is its exclusives, thankfully none of which are locked behind the Pro model in terms of access.
PS5 Pro will offer a substantial performance jump, arguably even bigger for 3rd Party titles that often use FSR2 and very low base resolutions. Sony 1st Party titles are always well optimised across all hardware, PS5 Pro just gives the best of both worlds (Quality & Performance).
If that is actually the case, then I feel Sony did a poor job really showing that potential by using a clip from Hogwarts Legacy that was still very clearly running at 30 FPS. And if 1st Party titles are already well-optimized, then unless other games have significantly greater jumps in performance compared to what was shown today, the graphical gains between the standard PS5 and the Pro model starts to enter the realm of diminishing returns.
It's for the 15-20% who are willing to pay for the best and have likely already had 4 years use out of the base PS5.
The Best, minus the disc drive and vertical stand that was built into and included, respectively, with the launch version of the PS5 in 2020.

Look, if you're wanting me to pay for a console that has a bigger price difference than the price gap between last-gen and current-gen, then I would expect a generational leap in upgrades to follow, both graphically and otherwise, and ideally without the removal (and subsequent nickel-and-diming) of previously established features.

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As an aside, looking at the price of the PS5 Pro in Yen and Googling the currency exchange really mad me realize how badly the Yen is currently doing. :crazy:
 
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Should have called it a PS4 Plus Pro Max because this is essentially what it is, and then this name would actually justify selling the console without the drive or vertical stand :)
 
$699.99 -> €633.74
£699.99 -> €829.08
¥119,980 -> €766.67

You'd better live in USA if you want a PS5 Pro 😅
US prices are always shown without sales tax. Your math is off.
 
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Well could you check with the guy I quoted ? I'd like to have a clear view on the matter.
The US don't have universal VAT like we do, but a sales tax that varies a bit from state to state.

The range is roughly 7% to 10% (I think)
 
PS5 where draw distance has truly been a noticeable issue.
GT7 for example. The lod range is quite short.

Similarly, faster load times from what we currently have also doesn't sway me that much.
Loading times I guess would be the one technical aspect that has the least impact on gameplay joy, though if I can drop it, then hell yes I do.

Black Myth: Wukong is already somewhat slow (and has pretty short lod range for ground textures only).
And Space Marine 2 is also already not among the fastest loading games anymore, but in this case half of it comes from being online.

So to me the current PS5 no matter its relatively young age and though I really despise the existence of Pro-Console, I still will buy it as soon as I can get my hands on it.

Sidenote: my current PS5 is also somewhat noisy with a disc inserted, the external drive maybe solves this issue better than a console with integrated drive, but this doesnt mean I wouldnt prefer it being integrated to begin with.
 
The price point was expected, but what was surprising is that the optical drive is not included, and that adds on quite a bit to the final price. For $700 USD you should get an optical drive included in an enthusiast device.

What I can't wait for is the inevitable scalping situation and resellers playing charades with their listings.
Yeah, $700 for a console is crazy when it can't even play a $300 OOP Blu-Ray boxset. (Let alone a $800 OOP PS2 game!)
 
That pricing is insane.
Sony better makes sure that they will drop some banger games shortly after release that will use all the new tech to the fullest, or people will get even more angry.
 

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