PlayStation 5 Pro could be revealed as soon as next month, possibly for $600

I still don’t see why this console makes any sense.

34

It makes sense if you're a brand wanting to make more money from people who will just buy the latest thing, regardless of whether it's a big enough upgrade or not.

15
- It also makes sense if you’re a brand that has been selling an outdated 8 year old brick that reached its peak usefulness years ago to the point that literally any upgrade at all would be worth it lol.
  
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It makes sense if you don't have a PS4.

(It would never cross my mind that backwards compatibility would be seen as a bad point... Or at least that is what I am afraid Sony starts to believe lol).

Honestly, I would get a Steam Deck first, and that wasn't my line of thinking back then... But guess which or the two units are sold in Mexico ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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I don't really follow consoles, but I'll take a guess based on what limited information is about the thing in the article.

If you figure that PC and various console hardware has converged to a fair degree over the decades and that stuff is gonna get generally ported around anyway, it's hard to differentiate yourself on game selection or hardware features. Plus you've got antitrust regulators going after console vendors buying games to be exclusives, and that also tamps down on that.

So okay, say what you can compete on is in significant part how you run what is more or less the same set of games. Most games already have rendering code that can scale pretty well with hardware for the PC.

It might make sense to make sure that you have faster rendering hardware so that it's your version that looks the nicest (well, or at least second nicest, hard to compete with the PC's hardware iteration time for users willing to buy the latest-and-greatest there).

Let me extrapolate one further. It might even make sense, if that's the direction of things, for console vendors to make some kind of cartridge containing the GPU, something with a durable, idiot-proof upgrade that you don't have to open the console to do, and to let users upgrade their console to the next gen mid-lifecycle at a lower cost than getting a new console. Controllers haven't changed all that much, and serial compute capabilities aren't improving all that much annually. The thing that is improving at a good clip is parallel compute.

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- Having an APU is part of how they get the price points they do. A separate GPU would cost more on its own, would need its own memory instead of the shared pool, costing more, and the end result would be meaningfully more expensive for customers to upgrade than it is for them to sell their old system and buy a pro.
  
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Why not? The ps5 is good at pretending to do 4k, but is very much on the anemic side of graphics power for 4k gaming. Why wouldn't people want a performance bump if it's available and they can afford to upgrade?

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- I feel like social media just loves to jump on the hate bandwagon, fortunately the real world is nothing like this.
  
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Do you understand why new graphics cards make sense? Or why a new CPU makes sense?

2
- That's what you put in the next console generation, or your PC, not a console that was already released. That's not how consoles work.
  
  The whole point of a console Vs just building a PC is to have a homogenous ecosystem for developers to ensure that everybody has the exact same experience, because everyone has the exact same device with the same CPU, GPU, etc, across that whole generation (also allowing developers to hone their skill on that hardware over the years to get more out of it).
  
  If you're going to take that core benefit away, why not just build a PC at that point...
  
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- For what games?
  
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- Yeah but this isnt that this is watering down a lineup that historically saw major technology jumps between hardware releases.
  
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I'm guessing the CPU isn't going to get a big uplift if the PS4 Pro is anything to go by.

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Is any game worth getting a ps5, let alone a premium version? The catalog is so anemic, it's mostly ps4 games, the only game that would interest me would be TLOU1 remake... but I got it on PC anyway

23

The PS5 is worth the price of admission even just to run all your PS4 games at reasonable frame rate, and load into games in less than a century.

6
- I play plenty of current gen stuff, and the controller is awesome when they use it.
  
  But there's so much last gen stuff that just had brutal load times every time you died that feel brand new with the (worse than native PS5 games still) reasonable loads.
  
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- Maybe why I'm not interested, I have no back catalog of games to play on PS, coming from PC gaming
  
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maybe the AstroBot game next month.

2
I really only bought Returnal and Stellar Blade on PS5, and they're both either on or coming to PC anyway.

OK, I also bought Elden Ring and Final Fantasy 16, but of course ER is already on PC and FF16 is also coming to PC. (Do not buy FF16, it is a terribly shallow RPG and also terribly shallow action game with terribly shallow characters)

1
Stellar Blade was pretty dope. But it will be released for PC eventually, so…

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Didn't they jack up the price of the PS5 in several markets, and it's already selling poorly compared to previous consoles?

A more expensive, higher end unit isn't gonna turn that around.

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Yes, they just announced that it will increase in Japan on September 2nd. The price was increased in the rest of the world a couple years ago, except the US.

There’s some speculation in the linked post that the PS5 Pro announcement will capitalize on this somehow.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/27/24229420/ps5-prices-are-going-up-again-in-japan

As for sales, it hasn’t been too bad, apparently, but nobody really has any concrete numbers, and Sony obviously won’t share the specifics. Just some vague estimates to make it look good.

Edit: another posting with a little more information and context: https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-hikes-the-playstation-5-price-in-japan-by-19-percent-160557944.html

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Not sure about the price, but as for sales no. The PS5 in its first year consistently outsold the PS4 in its first year, and it probably would have been more if they didn’t have so many supply issues. They were selling every PS5 manufactured before they ever reached store shelves for at least the first year and well into the second year. The PS4 was readily available in stores only a few months after launch.

There was a period where PS5 sales compared to PS4 dipped, but in the last 6 months the PS5 has been selling more than PS4 during the same time period and the gap is currently widening.

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Don't need it. PS5 could go for a decade easy. Lfg devs, get better at using what you have.

Anything else is tech lust

15

I'm just waiting for the proce drop.

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- Fair. That's usually the only reason I get excited for something new, because then it means the current whatever is taking to get sold off super cheap
  
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If the release of PS5 Pro means we can finally start catering to current gen, I’m all about it. PS4 will be 11 years old in November. It’s time to put the ‘ol girl down.

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- . . . Ps4 is what.
  
  ...i am still on ps2 ;-;
  
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They should have focused on making games that take advantage of the hardware they already have out instead of making new hardware that will continue to be underutilized because they have no games.

10

I want gaming systems that look like VCRs again

8

I want PS4, Wii, Xbox one S/X, PS2 aesthetics. Make consoles stackable again.

8
- It's not modern art. It's a box to play games on. The aesthetics of a shoebox are just fine.
  
  Xbox understands. They made 2 boxes. One half the size of the other. I got a series S and couldn't be happier with it.
  
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At last, after two generations we’re back to the

FIVE HUNDRED NINETY NINE US DOLLARS

meme

7

I would rather buy a gaming computer instead. Mainly, so I can pirate all my games and actually keep what I paid for. In any case, we should still support developers who develop games without DRM. I just buy my games from GoG instead, since all the games on there don't have DRM. I lost all my Steam games because I had two factor enabled (this is my own fault). My phone disappeared in the ocean, and I didn't save the recovery key.

I contacted Steam support and they didn't do anything, I could show receipts, even my whole ID+SSN, still they wouldn't recover my account. Ever since then, I've been pirating all the games I used to own, I think that's more ethical than just straight up pirating the game without originally paying the developer.

(I know this had almost zero to do with the post but imo people should really avoid buying consoles)

6

Not really.

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- Well shit, pirate everything I guess.
  
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The difference being you won’t pay 600 for a pc

0

I'm never getting a system refresh. Waste of money. This one is especially baffling. The PS4 Pro made sense so people could use their 4K TVs, but what does this add that makes buying a whole new system worthwhile?

6

And then PlayStation 6 will come out in like a year or something. Why would anyone buy this when they could wait for the ps6?

6

I got a ton of play out of my PS4 at the height of the pandemic, and have been considering a PS5 for a while now, but I just didn’t think it was worth it. I’m probably in the minority, but I think I would probably buy this, if the spec bump was significant enough. I also really hope they release it in black. It’s silly, but the white 90’s router is so so ugly, and frankly one of the reasons I’ve stayed away. If they charge more than $600 though, it’ll be a hard no. Don’t fuck this up Sony.

5

coming from someone who has both a ps4 and a 5, I wouldn't buy the upgraded. the 5 is worth maybe 400 max, but I honestly think if you have a ps4 pro I would peg it around 350ish. I hate the new UI layout along with the controller layout. It's worth it maybe if you don't have the ps4 pro, because the increase in ram, Vram and general processing power is noticable. but if your current system is the PS4 pro, you won't really notice a big performance difference, and while there is a clear graphical difference, I for sure don't think its worth a 600$ price point.

3
- I appreciate the advice. My PS4 is just a lowly slim, not a Pro, so it is definitely showing its age. But I'll for sure take this into account, thanks!
  
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Basically the same. 600 is steep though. It at least better have the disc still.

And god yes. I detest white electronics. Please make it in black stock, especially for that price.

2
You can buy plates for sub-$50 on Amazon that look like basically whatever you want. The stock plates are designed to just pop off.

1

I regret buying the latest gen consoles. I would likely be more pleased with the purchase if there was actually something decent on them. Ragnarok was probably the one I played the most. I've been debating selling, the price point for them should be closer to 300-350, 500-600 is not worth it.

2

Haven't owned a Playstation since PS1 and looking to buy a PS5. I'm not spending $600 on one, though. That's just stupid money.

2

Test

1

The PS5 has been a disappointment for me. I've only purchased a handful of games. I got it off the back of the PS4 which had so many great games.

1

I've not had a PlayStation since the PS2 (which I also still have btw) so I've gotten a bit more use out of it, since I can finally play (most) of the PS3 and PS4 games I missed out on (though the one I really want is like the only one not available; MGS4). However, I still kind of think it's a waste because the PS5 itself only has, what? Like 4 games that aren't on any other platform? It keeps shrinking as they port things to PC so IDK anymore what the actual count is. And one of them is the freaking tech demo that comes with the system. I mean, it's a gnarly, full on platformer game of a tech demo, but still. Could have gotten a PS4 and had the same experience, for less.

3
- Astros Playground is probably my.moat played game on the system. I will buy the new game at some point. The vast majority of games I've played are PS4 games that have been updated for the PS5.
  
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That's great and all but what about the Switch 2?? Please?

1

Probably next year.

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- So they say. I want an announcement.
  
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