# Digging Deeper into the PS5 Pro Back in March 2020, I wrote how the PS5 spec reveal presented the console as the [[The King of Custom – PS5 Specs Revealed|King of Custom]]. I found that reveal interesting because of how Sony was leveraging custom hardware to alleviate loads on devs and games to achieve optimal performance. Now that the PS5 Pro is official, I find myself thinking back to the custom nature of the PS5 hardware. There's a lot to digest with the mid-gen "prosumer" kit. There's the "AI upscaler" PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution.[^1] There's more GPU power, more rays to be traced. Then there is, of course, [[PS5 Pro Would Cost Me 866.67|the sticker shock]]. I want to address all of this, but first, I want to talk about how Sony presented the news of the console itself and then explore just *who* this device is for. ### Introductions Matter Sony's [nine minute Mark Cerny ASMR session](https://www.youtube.com/live/X24BzyzQQ-8) was not good. I love a good deep dive from Mark, but this was not the way. The problems compounded. Try as they might, Sony are not the pros at Digital Foundry or the like. They didn't implement the proper techniques to truly show off the gains of the hardware in a YouTube live stream environment. You had to understand the promise of their technical talk instead of seeing the improvements. A week later, outlets like Digital Foundry have been provided ProRes video files of direct capture. Needless to say, the crew there did more to showcase the benefits and sell a PS5 Pro in [two minutes](https://youtube.com/watch?v=fJZ6ndDACG8&t=81), than Sony did in nine. First impressions matter and Sony dropped the ball with this one. In their favor, I suppose, the Internet is quick to forget. I am curious how quickly it will forget the price though... ### Who is the PS5 Pro for? It is certainly not meant for professionals. It's "prosumers." Sony has modeled much of the PS5 hardware lineup after pro and non-pro electronics, not unlike the cell phone market. There are [$100 wireless headphones](https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/buy-accessories/pulse-3d-wireless-headset) and [$200 premium, lossless wireless earbuds](https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/buy-accessories/pulse-explore-wireless-earbuds-ps5). They offer [$75 controllers](https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/buy-accessories/dualsense-wireless-controller) or a [$200 premium controller](https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/buy-accessories/dualsense-edge-wireless-controller) with additional features. There are even two methods for streaming games with the licensed [Backbone controller](https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/buy-accessories/backbone-one-playstation-edition-mobile-gaming-controller-iphone-and-android-usb-c) or the [PlayStation Portal](https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/buy-accessories/playstation-portal-remote-player) priced at, you guessed it, $100 and $200 respectively. And now there is an option for the console itself with the standard and the pro. Long time readers may think to call out my criticism and concern over generational bottlenecks, specifically when I call out Xbox Series S and X. The weaker hardware has [[Will the Xbox Series S hold back next-gen gaming – The Verge|always been]] a concern for me and how it might limit development this generation. The difference here should be obvious. The PS5 is the baseline for powerful home console gaming and the Pro raises the ceiling of performance possibility. The Series S lowers the ceiling. Comparing these two extremes though, we see a *wide* range of potential consumers from the affordable current gen gaming with $300 XSS to the $700 PS5 Pro.[^2] What I said when the PS5 price was finally [[PS5 Release Date, Pricing, and Launch Line-Up Revealed|revealed]] rings even more true today; > "The price range and slew of choices for consumers going into this console generation is unprecedented."[^3] Back to just who the $700 white tower is targeting though. It's targeting people like me. I have a sickness. I want the highest resolutions and the smoothest frame rates. I do not like picking between "fidelity" and "performance" modes. Heck, I bought a [[The RetroTINK-4K is Almost Here|$750 4K scaler]] for all my consoles *besides* my PS5 and XSX. And to get those things, I am often willing to sell, save, or work extra to get them. Just because I want something, does not mean I am entitled to it though. A PS5 Pro will eventually [[PS5 Pro Would Cost Me 866.67|cost me a lot of money]] and I will have to budget accordingly to afford one. The Pro doesn't invalidate my PS5 though. I still have access to the library of games and future titles without compromises a weaker console would present. I can only gain. All of this isn't to say I wondered if the Pro was meant for me. I figured it wasn't actually when I was soaking in the price and the perceived gains from Sony's introduction video. I thought I was being priced out of being a "pro." In a strange, consumerist way, that hurt. I am a hardcore Sony Pony rider. I have a rich history with the platform and a deep collection of games. I own every platform. I buy the gear to maximize said consoles.[^4] My gut was upset and I wondered if that "prosumer" badge I often wear even fit anymore. That was all knee-jerk though. Time heals all wounds, even the dumb consumer-perceived ones. Richard Leadbetter put it well on [DF Direct Weekly #180](https://youtube.com/watch?v=nUWIpRDSOFY&t=3816). > [!quote] > "The price is the price. We're not going to be able to change it. The question is whether you think it's valuable to you." After mulling it over and looking at the actual gains upfront, I think the PS5 Pro is valuable *to me*. You are going to have to answer that for yourself too. ### Price Since we are already here, let's dig into the price in a more analytical way. Step aside feelings, we have numbers to crunch. No room for emotion in math. $700 makes perfect sense. Inflation is the economic reason why this makes sense. A $450 all-digital PS5 in 2020 dollars today would cost $547.33.[^5] Let's round that up to $100. Now, Sony has not increased the price of the PS5 *here in North America*. The same [cannot be said](https://blog.playstation.com/2022/08/25/ps5-price-to-increase-in-select-markets-due-to-global-economic-environment-including-high-inflation-rates/) for other regions around the world, where the price of PS5 Pro is even more wallet draining. This discrepancy is likely due to the US dollar being stronger than other currencies at the moment and the [US being the largest console market](https://www.polygon.com/23327529/ps5-price-hike-increase-us-market). Despite inflation—here in the US—the PS5 has stayed at its original price. Sony is no longer making a profit off the disc-based console—[and that is news from 2022](https://www.polygon.com/23327529/ps5-price-hike-increase-us-market). The same sort of rings true for Xbox, although Microsoft did just release a $600 Xbox Series X with a 2TB internal SSD and a disc drive. Take the XSX launch price of $500, add $50 for inflation with the rest for the bump in storage and the new $600 price makes sense. Inflation is not really what people want to hear about though. The console market hasn't seen MSRPs like this since the [3DO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DO) or the [PS3](https://youtube.com/watch?v=jaWptXzfETo&t=6507). The care for economics goes out the window when you write the sentence "$700 for a PlayStation!" So then what about a gaming PC? Is the cost there comparable? No. The current market seems to be [settling around $900](https://x.com/DestinLegarie/status/1834677321737159063) to build a PC as good, likely a smidge better, than a PS5 Pro. Sure, you can bargain bin dive around and get it lower and as time marches forward, the [PC market prices](https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2024-ps5-pro-vs-pc-value-comparisons-are-hard-to-take-seriously-but-the-future-of-console-pricing-is-another-matter) will drop bit by bit and be more competitive. What the PC will never have though is a cohesive living room experience or access to a console users catalog of games. I am a console gamer because of the library of games and the big screen TV experience. I don't want to hook up a big, honking gaming PC in my living room. I don't want to mess with drivers and *shivers* Windows 11 . I want to play my collection of games on the best screen I own with a killer sound set up.[^6] I want to sit in a comfortable chair and lose myself in the game world. My PlayStation or Xbox or Switch all provide that. I want plug and play, where the only real update I have to deal with is game patches. PC gaming will never provide that; and that is okay! Each medium serves the needs of its audience. PC gaming is cool and more powerful than I can dream of. Its' the only really viable market for VR outside of Quest. Steam is *Steam*. I get it. I'll stick with my consoles and their exclusives, which often come first to console and run better there anyway. #### Disc Drive Time for two mini topics under the price category: the disc drive situation and the vertical stand. First, the hullabaloo over the disc drive. It was not surprising to me that a disc drive is not built-in to the console. Sony wants to manufacture one [SKU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_keeping_unit) of this thing, not two, like they were at launch. It's why the slim PS5 is the same story with an attachable disc-drive.[^7] My problem isn't even that the disc drive costs $80, despite the likelihood that Sony is making a killing off them because Sony, you know, makes Blu-Ray drives and the margins must be sick. My problem ties back to that targeted audience of the diehard PlayStation user and what it means for the future of backward compatibility. I have a lot of physical PS4 and PS5 games. I wait for indies to go physical. I buy the big games on disc. I don't want to be dependent on servers that [[Sony Reverses Decision to Shut Down PS3 and Vita Stores|are going to shut down some day]]. It would have been a good move to present an option with a disc drive, perhaps bundled like Apple Watches are with bands—put two pieces in one package. The folks buying this, likely have a physical collection of some size. More importantly is what this means for the future of PlayStation and backward compatibility. If the PlayStation 6 is to be compatible with PS5 and PS4, then Sony *must* provide the means for playing games physically. It would be a marketing slap in the face to say only those with digital collections can play their library on the new hardware. The only way for Sony to entirely ditch physical media is to cut ties with previous generations, a move I do not see them doing. Sure, PS6 games could never be physical and force the market to buy them all digitally, but as long as backward compatibility is a part of the ecosystem, the option must be available. And an *option* it will be. I accept that I play more for my games physically. It's a price I am willing to pay and one I will have to keep paying to maintain this library going forward. When console generations break the ties with the previous, it sucks, but does convey a message immediately to keep old hardware and libraries if you want to play them in the future. Look at the PS3. It launched with full backward compatibility with PS1 and PS2. Then, to bring the price down, they cut PS2 hardware-level compatibility, opting for software emulation, and then cut the PS2 support entirely. Thanks to the Cell processor, the PS3 library itself was entirely locked away from the PS4, setting a new baseline. If Sony wants to make a clean break like that in the future, it'll be a tougher pill for folks to swallow given the consumer has no recourse. They can't sell their now-useless digital library. They have to keep and maintain the older hardware if they want to keep playing certain titles. Given the focus of compatibility and the longer life of the PS4 this gen, I find it hard to imagine Sony crippling their players that they sold on this digital game future with the PS4. I looked forward to buying a disc drive for my PS6 some day. #### Vertical Stand Don't worry. This will be a shorter topic than the disc drive. Get over it. Who cares? Sony has sold vertical stands separately since the PS2: Not the slim, [the **fat** PS2](https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/09/29/vertical-stand-review). The PS5 is the first time they included a stand at all. There is a third-party stand market. You'll be okay. I'll buy an official one, because I have a first-party disease. Plus, metal is nicer than plastic knock-offs.[^8] ### PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution Out of all the shiny new tech inside the PS5 Pro, this is the most tantalizing to me. PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (aka PSSR) has the most potential to be the game changer. [Just look at what it does for *Final Fantasy VII Rebirth*](https://youtube.com/watch?v=fJZ6ndDACG8). I think of this sort of tech like having a built-in scaler. The games can run a lower internal resolution and let PSSR pump out a 4K resolution. When sitting on your couch, the difference between native and scaled should be almost imperceivable. This is how we get the promise of fidelity-like visuals at performance mode frame rates. The tech nerd in me wonders what games Sony has trained their model on. Unlike the LLMs of ChatGPT and Google Gemini, Sony cannot just churn through the open web and steal data to train. Sony had to use their own games alongside second and third party titles. The pool is much smaller than the ocean of the web, but in that smaller subset of data, the information and training has the potential to be more specific and rich. I'm curious to see how updates to PSSR are handled in the future. What will the cadence of updates be like? Will developers partner up with Sony to increase the collection of data? The possibilites of this kind of upscaling in the console space is exciting. ### The Promise of Software A piece of advice I often hear in tech is to never buy hardware with the promise of software. In a funny way, console gaming is lives *and* dies by this adage. At the launch of shiny new hardware, the early adopters *are* buying into the promise of software to come, both from first party developers and the third parties. The launch lineup is there to entice and offer a glimpse, but not every lineup ends up being representative of where the hardware and the industry ends up going in that generation. Without the adoption of the hardware, then the promise of software may never be fulfilled. It then falls to the first party to deliver where they can and hopefully draw in the consumer and the partners. They may fail or succeed.[^9] Now, four years into the PS5, this particular platform does not have a problem of drawing in consumers or developers. First-party output may be slower than I'd like, but the console is certainly thriving with a rich library. And yet, I think back to this promise of software in the wake of the PS5 Pro's announcement. I dipped back into Twitter to see the live reaction and there was one game in particular that I saw more often than not brought up as *the* game to buy a PS5 Pro for—[*Grand Theft Auto VI*](https://youtube.com/watch?v=QdBZY2fkU-0). Look, I'm as excited as the next guy for the first *GTA* game in 12 years, but we have no clue how this one is going to perform on *any* console. Back to that wide range of console options, *GTA VI* will (theoretically) run on a Xbox Series S and the PS5 Pro. I'd bet on the experience being the best on PS5 Pro, but I also wouldn't buy a PS5 Pro at launch in anticipation for *GTA VI*. I'd save up and wait until the game even has a release date before ponying up $700 plus the cost of the game. And honestly, I'm more exited by what *Death Stranding 2: On the Beach* will do than *GTA*. ### In Closing When taking in the totality of the PS5 Pro announcement, I think the moniker "King of Custom" is more apt than ever. The console features more custom hardware and software designed to alleviate dev resources to leverage their designs. It provides optional access to physical games. The whole PS5 line up has a range of accessories that leverage all sorts of features and the Pro taps into the top of the line. When stepping back and soaking it all in that way, I don't mind the Pro's existence or its price. In fact, I think it adds value to the landscape. I am eager to see how games look and run. I am eager to see how developers leverage the power and expand their titles. Options are good and, ultimately, what I said back at the spec reveal is more true than ever before. > "When I think about the PS5, it’s not the numbers on a sheet of paper, but the games it will let me play. Naughty Dog will eventually harness every ounce of power out of this box. Second parties will make fantastic exclusives. Third parties will be able to make games across both boxes that have never been done before. It’s all about the games and the people making them seem pretty excited." Numbers are neat and fun, but it's always about the games. The PS5 Pro is going to allow for those games to look and run better than ever before. [^1]: Back in the PSSR! [^2]: Not considering library of games, friends, etc. [^3]: Based off MSRP, the console market hits $300, $350, $450, $500, $600, and $700. If you throw the Switch Lite in there, you can add $200. And this range, of course, does not include discounts or bundles. I don't recall a price range like this ever in the console market. [^4]: See [[Preserving the Vita – Upgrading My Vita TV]] and [[Hot, Fresh Homebrewed Consoles]]. Plus, you know, the RetroTINK-4K I bought so I could play my Vita TV in a *crispy* 4K with a pixel-perfect *digital* signal. Guys, I love playing my Vita on the TV. So good. [^5]: Let's be honest, the main target of the PS5 Pro likely owns a PS5 and bought one earlier rather than recently. [^6]: Okay, my sound set up needs major work, but my headphones are nice. [^7]: Speaking of the slim, I saw one in person for the first time a couple weeks ago and dang, it is tiny! It's no PS2 slim, but I was impressed. [^8]: Calculating for inflation, the fat PS2 vertical stand sold for $26.66 in 2024 dollars. [^9]: 🪦 Wii U