Sony’s announcement of its mid generation updated hardware, the PlayStation 5 Pro, caused quite a stir on social media last night. The console’s astronomically high price brought back memories of the 3DO era (though adjusted to inflation the 3DO was much more expensive).
So, why is the price so high ? Well, Sony continues to sell the PS5 at a loss despite the system lacking a price cut four years into its lifecycle. Component shortages, and high manufacturing costs have influenced this generation’s stagnant prices. Both the PS5 and the Series X are just too expensive to make, and thus, we have been stuck with the $499 price tag for four years.
In previous generations, prices would have been slashed on consoles by at least $100 at this juncture. One could argue the success of the PS4 Pro, and Xbox One X were due to the fact that these premium consoles did not retail for more money than the “regular” versions of its hardware sold for at their own respective launches.
Given that the PS5 Pro is more powerful than the PS5, the $200 price increase is understandable, and yet, the system is sold without a disc drive, which makes the device a tricky proposition for those PS5 gamers that own physical disks, as an upgrade would cost them nearly $800 (plus taxes) if they want a proper console with a blue-ray drive.
No Xbox Competitor = PlayStation 5 Pro Priced at $700
Sony has been extremely successful during this generation. The PS5 consistently outsells the Xbox Series consoles 2 to 1 in world wide sales. Despite this, or perhaps as a consequence, Sony has even raised the PS5 price (4 years after launch) in European, Australian, and Japanese markets.
The company has little fear of failure on those markets because Xbox is not competitive in them. Microsoft has no answer to the PS5 Pro this time around, and as such, Sony has no pressure into pricing its premium mid generation refresh competitively. With a disc drive we are talking about an $800 dollar system here, but Sony has no competitive rival in such a space.
Basically, if you want a premium console that has improved Ray Tracing, Machine Learning features along with resolution and performance bumps you only have one choice: The PS5 Pro.
Sony has no reason to slash the PS5 price, or deliver a Disc based PS5 Pro for $600 because there is no competitor in the premium space. The Xbox One X forced the PS4 Pro to be priced competitively. This will not happen this time around.
Some Sony fans celebrated Microsoft’s leap to Multiplatform publishing, and presumably, its eventual death as a hardware maker in the not too distant future. These fans are either regretting that type of thinking now, or will regret it in the near future because things will only go down hill from here.
The Standard Has Been Set, the PS6 will Launch at $700+
Unless Microsoft launches an ultra powerful “next” Xbox at a competitive price of say $600? Sony will launch the PS6 at $700+. I don’t see the PS5 Pro getting a price reduction over the next 3 years, so perhaps even a disc less (with Xbox’s hardware threat diminishing Sony is moving in this direction now) PS6 console at $800 is not out of the realm of possibility unless Microsoft decides to do something about it.
The PS4 Pro accounts for 12% of all PS4 units sold, so it will be interesting to see how the PS5 Pro performs at that price point over the long run. At $700 (without a disc drive) I fail to see how the PS5 Pro is a mass market product within the console space. Don’t get me wrong, the system will sell out this holiday season, but over the long haul, I don’t see how it does much better than the PS4 Pro did in its time.
The Games and GTAVI
How attractive is the PS5 Pro right now? Sony’s games typically look top notch, and the demos showcased of previous games (many which are cross platform with the PS4) with improved resolutions and frame-rates on the PS5 Pro did not quite make for a stellar first impression. Yes, they were sharper, and yes, they ran flawlessly at 60 fps in quality modes, but does that justify a $700 (nearly $800 with the disc drive add on) investment for someone who already owns the PS5? Personally, I don’t think so.
However, I did have a long time gaming friend contacting me last night about GTA VI being the “must have” game for the PS5 Pro. This could be true, but the PS5 (and the Series X) hardware remains largely untapped with dedicated next generation games.
Play RDR2 on Xbox One X, and see for yourself how Rockstar continues to have the best looking open world game today, nearly 6 years after launch, on a last generation console. I have no doubt that the PS5 version of GTA VI will look stellar, how much stellar can the PS5 Pro version look? Better enough to justify at $700 console? That remains to be seen.
Then there is also the fact that GTA VI might launch in 2026 (and not late 2025). By that point, rumors of a new Xbox, and PS6 console will be floating around.
So, we shall see how gamers welcome Sony’s newest machine over the course of late 2024 into late 2025.
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