Last week saw the gaming world get hit with a meteorite when Sony introduced the $700 PlayStation 5 Pro, an upgraded version of the PS5 console arriving November 7th that promises a bigger GPU, its own bespoke AI-driven upscaler, improved frame rates, and better ray tracing, though that base price is for a system without a disk drive.
The price point and the presentation ignited an absolute firestorm of controversy, with most gamers pointing out how the upgrades previewed in the showcase didn’t appear to be worthwhile. But now that the news has settled, tech and industry experts have started to weigh in and argue in favor of the PS5 Pro’s eye-watering sticker price.
One of the first supporters of the Pro’s graphical grunt was Digital Foundry’s John Linneman, who claimed that Final Fantasy VII Remake running on the new console was a “night and day difference” after looking at lossless video footage. The tweet saw multiple replies hit back at the assumption that this one example made the Pro’s price worthwhile – something that Linneman repeatedly pointed out was not his point.
Another frequent argument raised by several outlets and tech experts is that building a PC rig that offers similar power to the PS5 Pro while keeping the price down is not quite as feasible as others would suggest. Most of this discussion was spawned by an IGN article that tried to take up the challenge, though it conceded that doing so would cost “a bit more,’ settling on a build that was priced at about $863. A similar build challenge by TechRadar put together a rig that costs over $1200, though that article argued its addition of a disk drive and the lack of paying for a PS Plus subscription amounted to saved money in the long run.
Most industry watchers seem to agree that the PS5 Pro is less about raking in new console gamers and more about targeting brand loyalists who don’t game on PC to begin with, as suggested by Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter during an interview, analysis from Niko Partners’ Daniel Ahmad, and opinion from entrepreneur and game producer Matthew Ball. There are also arguments that Microsoft and Nintendo won’t be offering any comparable upgrade in the middle of their respective console life cycles.
Still, it is incredibly hard to ignore the bad press the Pro’s price is generating, which arguably could have poisoned the well before the system even hits shelves. “This is a fantastic advertisement for the standard PS5,” reads one such snappy comment on the console reveal video.
