The PS5 Pro is symbolic of everything wrong with the direction of the modern gaming industry.
On Sept. 10, Sony held a virtual technical presentation showing off the latest entry to the PlayStation console lineup, the PS5 Pro. As the name implies, the console is a superpowered version of the original PS5. It’s capable of playing games at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second while maintaining incredible graphical fidelity during gameplay, eliminating the need for players to choose between a higher framerate or better resolution while playing their favourite games.
The console is certainly a technological achievement — so why was the reveal met with such an overwhelmingly negative reception?
To answer this question, we have to look at the original PlayStation 5. The base PS5 model is already incredibly powerful, capable of rendering unbelievably lifelike graphics and fluid framerates (especially when a player chooses Performance Mode, which prioritises frames per second over graphical fidelity).
In fact, the original console is already so powerful that most developers are struggling to take full advantage of the hardware. To fully utilize every bit of the technical power offered by the PS5, development teams would need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars and at least a decade of development time to create a single title for the console. This is part of the reason why so many PS5 exclusives feel like they could run just fine on the last-gen PS4, and why so many new games have continued releasing on both consoles simultaneously.
It’s confusing, then, that we’re getting a PS5 Pro, considering it only offers more power that won’t be taken advantage of. It’s true that the console is capable of running hypothetical games with incredible technical prowess, but the reality is that we’re probably not going to see a game of that calibre ever released within the system’s lifetime.
Another major issue is that with each new iteration of PlayStation hardware, the technical differences from the last unit become harder to discern. Decades ago, each new console felt like a true technological leap forward because there was a lot more ground to cover. When PlayStation 2 was released in 2000, it was a game-changer, offering a significant and impactful technical jump from its predecessor. Now that consoles have effectively peaked in this regard, it’s become almost impossible to tell the difference between each new hardware iteration.
At one point in the technical showcase, a side-by-side comparison of a scene from Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart playing on the original PS5 and PS5 Pro is shown, meant to show the impressive difference in technical power. However, this moment ends up almost comical as the two pieces of footage feel more like a game of spot-the-difference than an impressive graphical leap. The video footage actually zooms in on distant details to make its point, and even then, it’s still difficult to notice much of a difference.
Sure, if you’re playing under a microscope with the game playing at 0.1x speed, you might notice a difference between PS5 and PS5 Pro. However, if you’re going to play the system like a normal person, you’d be lucky if you notice any difference at all.
Interestingly, this peak in hardware capabilities was predicted by the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata 20 years ago, before the release of the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In a 2004 interview, Iwata predicted the eventual peak of technical capabilities and the problems that would come with relying on this direction with future hardware.
“Graphics have become more and more gorgeous each year, and games have become more sophisticated or sometimes very complicated. But, until now, we have come to understand that we are reaching limits in this direction,” said Iwata.
“We have some final destiny in entertainment, and that is [that] whatever gorgeous or wonderful thing we may be able to come up with, in the future, people are going to get tired of it. In that kind of way, the industry has been able to build up its success by making the games more gorgeous and more complicated by now, but unfortunately, I just cannot predict it can keep on going with that direction for a very long time from now.”
Iwata’s prediction has come true, and we’re seeing it in real-time with the announcement of the PS5 Pro.
Another problem, however, is that despite the PS5 Pro’s minimal step forward in practical power, it’s still being priced as a significant upgrade. The console is going to cost $699 USD at launch, an outrageous increase from the already expensive $499 USD base PS5. The Pro model is going to cost even more in other currencies, priced at £699 (~$930 USD), €799 (~$890 USD), and ¥119,980 (~$830 USD). In Canada, the PS5 Pro will cost $959 CAD, which is equivalent to ~$706 USD.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the console is going to launch without a disc drive, meaning players will need to exclusively play digital games — unless they’re willing to cough up an additional $79 USD for a disc drive add-on, that is. This means that the PS5 Pro is actually more comparable to the PS5 Digital Edition, which is priced at $449 USD.
Oh, and it doesn’t come with a stand. That’ll be another $29 USD.
It is absolutely outrageous that Sony is selling this marginally improved console “upgrade” for almost a thousand CAD and they aren’t even willing to throw in a stand. It’s the most greedy act I’ve seen from a gaming company possibly ever — and that’s coming from a guy who wrote an in-depth analysis on the egregious penny-stealing practices behind Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
The PS5 Pro’s pricing structure is so terrible that it makes me wonder if the only reason this console exists is to sell more base PS5s during the holiday season. After all, to a holiday shopper, the $499 price tag on an original PS5 might not look so bad anymore when it’s sitting next to a PS5 Pro on the store shelf.
At the end of the day, the PS5 Pro is a greedy cash grab meant to exploit the passion of hardcore PlayStation fans while only doing harm to consumers at large. It sets a dangerous precedent for the future of video game hardware and shows that Sony will stop at nothing to squeeze every penny out of the wallets of their most dedicated players.