This week Sony finally announced their next console, the PS5 Pro.
Once again, Mark Cerny was rolled out to gently take us through Sony’s though process and the results of their tinkering. No surprise there, as anyone who follows such things knew not only that a Pro was on the way, but also how it looked, and how powerful it might be.
With a YouTube livestream not the best way to see graphical improvements, you need something else. Something to really cut through that to get people excited.
Well, there wasn’t. Only the most diehard or technically minded are going to get excited about better tree detail in Spider-Man 2, or better crowds in one level of Ratchet & Clank. Granted, ray traced car reflections in GT7 looked cool, but it made Sony’s current issue clear.
First party games. Sony didn’t have anything to roll out and show off. Wolverine isn’t close. What else is there? Software sells hardware. And even the most hardcore PlayStation fan has to admit, this gen has been a mixed bag. Even this past month we’ve seen the abject failure of Concord and the rousing success of Astro Bot. Perhaps GTA VI could have done it? That’s not theirs to show off though. Instead we got TloU 2 Remastered, but with better details in the distance! It’s a weak argument.
So far this gen (and around the time PS4 Pro came out) you have to choose between 60fps and higher graphical fidelity! Why not have both! Maybe. Well, it turns out people have answered that one. Mark mentions that when given the choice, three quarters picked performance. Games look incredible nowadays, and they take years to produce. Do they need to look better? I guess that’s personal preference. For me I’d rather take something that had it’s own style. But say you do like the horsepower, answer this.
Do you want to pay £700 to get a console that might play some games a bit better but doesn’t have a disc drive or a stand? What in the actual hell.
£700!!! And at the same time no decrease in price for the slim/standard PS5.
Yes, you get a bigger hard drive, plus some other fairly boring updates. But what about your disc collection? What about game preservation? Guess you need to pay extra. Want your console to sit up straight? Pay up. If most buyers are the hardcore moving up, or maybe those finally moving on from PS4, they’ll have discs. I know everything is more expensive now, and inflation exists. But asking for £700 makes my teeth itch. Sony faced backlash when they asked for £600 for a PS3 back in 2006. People expect a console to be a consistent and sort of reasonably priced way to game. Plug and play. Consoles may essentially be PCs now, but most don’t want to pay the same money.
This is the flagship PlayStation product, and you have to pay extra for a basic part. It reeks of arrogance. At this point I hope Xbox keeps going purely to keep Sony on their toes. I’m not ignoring Nintendo. They have their own issues, but they’re also doing their own thing.
I am a magpie. I love shiny new things. Having bought a PS5 on release, I wondered if I might plump for a Pro. It would have been at least four years after all. But this presentation feels tone deaf, with a weak argument for why I should upgrade.
It’s not that Sony aren’t producing things that intrigue me. I may yet get a Portal as I see a space for it in my situation. Maybe next year GTA will be such a fundamental shift in gaming and entertainment that I feel I need the best hardware to play it on. But right now? I’ll wait for the PS6. I hope it has a disc drive.
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