Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or heavily distracted, you missed today’s big Sony announcement. The PlayStation 5 Pro (or PS5 Pro as we call it) is real, and it drops on November 7th. Retail price is going for $699, and it appears the system will utilize a supplemental 4K Ultra HD disc drive. (Apparently the focus is going digital.)
PlayStation’s Mark Cerny hosted a big presentation for the system today. It shows off the technical aspects of the system, as well as improvements made to current and forthcoming games. But is it enough?
Join me now as I weigh the pros and cons of the console, and if it’s worth your time!
PS5 Pro (s)
- It’ll be a visual beast. The system comes with a ton of features, including an upgraded GPU for maximum performance, advanced ray tracing and AI-driven upscaling. That means the games will look better than ever before. Not to mention they’ll run like beasts. Even God of War: Ragnarok.
- PS5 Pro Game Boost will provide a punch to more than 8,500 current PS4 games on the system. That means enhanced image quality, as well as improved resolution. Oh, and better frame rate, of course.
- Pre-orders are set to open September 26th, which will give players ample time to secure their purchase. And right out of the box, they should see a world of difference with many of their games. Even older ones!
- Current peripherals will work with the system, including all controllers, the PlayStation Portal, PSVR 2 and much more.
PS5 No’s
- The price tag. The PS5 Pro clocks in at a weighty $699 U.S., and even a bit higher overseas. That’s a lot to ask for, especially considering what it doesn’t come with.
- The model will essentially be driveless. That means if you own any physical PS4 or PS5 games, you can’t play them out of the box. You need a supplementary disc drive in order to play them. And that means more money.
- The backward compatibility angle is a bit disappointing. While many PS4 games will have support, not all will like the current PS5. What’s worse, older PlayStation games are getting a cold, hard shoulder for the sake of new technology.
So there’s a lot to consider here. Sony did make some sacrifices to make the machine more efficient. However, some of those sacrifices were key ingredients in the PS5’s success. Not to mention that the $700 price tag will be a bit much for many. Especially when you consider that a high-end PC isn’t far off from that point.
We’ll check out the PS5 Pro as it gets closer to its release in November and provide the final verdict then. In the meantime, check out the technical presentation below and see if it excites you. There’s a lot to consider here, but there’s also some stuff missing to make it a true must-have.
Need some PlayStation reviews? See below!
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