Is the PS5 Pro Too Expensive? Cost vs Value
September 10, 2024
The PS5 Pro has just been revealed by Sony, and it's generating a lot of discourse. While that's plenty natural for console reveals, the tone is considerably more critical this time around. And there's a good reason why people are struggling to see the positives of this new console. While the PS5 Pro is an impressive technological feat, it's really hard to focus on anything but its price.
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Let's Talk About The PS5 Pro's Price
In the United States, the PS5 Pro will have a retail price of $699.99. This easily places it as one of the most expensive consoles ever based on its retail price, beating out the likes of the PlayStation 3 ($599.99 MSRP at launch) and the Neo Geo ($649.99 MSRP at launch).
Now, the price tag may be hard to initially fathom, but is the PS5 Pro, at the very least, worth its cost? Well, that's definitely arguable, but I'm inclined to say no. It depends, though. If you already own a PS5, the upgrade just isn't compelling enough to justify spending a total of $1200 on PS5 systems. If you don't already own a PS5, then the question is if you value slightly better graphics and framerates for about $200 more than the regular console. For the majority of people, that just isn't worth it.
There's also the additional problem that the PS5 Pro arguably comes incomplete. It doesn't come with a vertical stand, for example, which all base model PS5s come packaged with. That retails for $29.99. The PS5 Pro is also digital only, meaning that you'd have to pay extra for an attachable disc drive. That's an extra $79.99. So, to get the "complete" console, you have to pay over $800. That's ridiculous.
In Europe, the console is even more overpriced, if you can believe it. The PS5 Pro is going to retail for €799.99 over there. As of right now, the Euro is more valuable than the U.S. Dollar. In effect, they'll have to pay the equivalent of $880 USD for the console over there. That's not even accounting for the extra add-ons. If you're based in Europe, I honestly don't see you how you could rationalize that spending.
Specs, Power, And Output — What Makes The PS5 Pro Different
To get into some more specific details about the PS5 Pro's upgrades over the base PS5 model, we can refer to Sony's own PlayStation blog. The PS5 Pro promises these specific things, in Sony's own words:
- Upgraded GPU: With PS5 Pro, we are upgrading to a GPU that has 67% more Compute Units than the current PS5 console and 28% faster memory. Overall, this enables up to 45% faster rendering for gameplay, making the experience much smoother.
- Advanced Ray Tracing: We've added even more powerful ray tracing that provides more dynamic reflection and refraction of light. This allows the rays to be cast at double, and at times triple, the speeds of the current PS5 console.
- AI-Driven Upscaling: We're also introducing PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, an AI-driven upscaling that uses a machine learning-based technology to provide super sharp image clarity by adding an extraordinary amount of detail.
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To put it simply, the PS5 Pro is going to perform better. Okay, maybe that's putting it too simply. The console's graphical fidelity is definitely superior — plenty noticeable with how much clearer things look in the far distance. But if you're not looking super attentively at an image, I'm not sure that the difference can really be appreciated all that much. You don't exactly stand still all that frequently in most games.
Now, the better framerates of the PS5 Pro are definitely easier to notice. In the PS5 Pro Technical Presentation, it is very apparent how much smoother The Last of Us 2 is on the PS5 Pro. The movement looks super natural compared to what the base PS5 is able to output on Fidelity mode. It's doing that while also outputting slightly better graphics. So, there is definite value to the PS5 Pro. I'm just not sure if it's $700 worth of value.
People will buy anything. That doesn't mean that you should. Is the PS5 Pro impressive? Absolutely, yes. But as a consumer, I don't know if it makes sense to support this kind of pricing. I'm sure that there's revolutionary technology involved here that's driving the price up, but that doesn't excuse such an expensive console. Maybe Sony sees a market that no one else does, but I just don't know who this new console is for. Time will tell if Sony's making the right business decision.
