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The announcement of the PlayStation 5 Pro has sparked outrage among players — with the YouTube video confirming powerful new console reaching 141,000 dislikes in a single day, an unfortunate new record for Sony.
Unveiled by PlayStation 5 lead architect Mark Cerny in a prerecorded video published on September 10, the upgraded PS5 Pro cost a whopping £699.99 in the UK — that's £310 more than the most affordable PS5 console. Launching worldwide on November 7, the PS5 Pro doesn't include a disc drive as standard, so you won't be able to play physical games or Blu-rays without spending an extra £99.99 with Sony.
Of course the Brits have to pay more for it too 😐 pic.twitter.com/FpFrGfekzH
— 𝐍𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐦 (@NakeemHere) September 10, 2024
The vertical stand that enables the console to stand upright — like it appears in all of the marketing material — isn't even bundled in the box.
Sony included this small plastic stand with the original iteration of the PS5, but those who want the all-singing, all-dancing PS5 Pro will need to find an extra £24.99. That extra charge also applies to the redesigned Slim Model PS5 consoles released last year ahead of the Christmas shopping rush.
Adding to the discontent amongst PlayStation players is the comparison with the PS4 Pro launch. When that supercharged version of the console launched in 2016, the PS4 Pro was priced at £350, less than half the cost of its successor. With the arrival of the beefier Pro-grade console, Sony dropped the cost of the standard Slim PS4 — making it more accessible to millions of players.
PlayStation 5 Pro (left) is almost identical to the standard model (right), aside from its more powerful internals and the three-lines cutting through the exterior shell. Like the PS5 Digital Edition, it can be fitted with an disc drive at-home, sold separately from £99.99
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That isn't happening this time around. The PlayStation 5 Digital Edition and standard PlayStation 5 keep the same price tag.
It's also worth highlighting the price disparity between countries, which has also drawn criticism. In the United States — a territory where Sony faces competition from the Xbox consoles — the PS5 Pro is priced at $699.99, which equates to approximately £535.
But in the UK and mainland Europe, where there's no competition between Xbox sales and the PlayStation, this figure stays the same and is swapped out for local currencies, i.e. £699.99 and €699.99.
PlayStation fans have flooded social media to moan about all of these aspects of the all-new PS5 Pro.
"$700 with NO disc drive and something as simple as a vertical stand for a vertical system isn’t included? You are absolutely delusional," one user on X, formerly Twitter, posted following the announcement of the upgraded console.
Another joked: "As well as enhancing the graphics to improve small details that you never noticed before, we also enhanced the price…"
"I'll be honest, after hearing about and seeing the PS5 Pro, I'd rather spend $699.99+ on LEGO I've wanted rather than an semi-half upgrade of a console I already own," one PlayStation fan commented on X.
Commenting on the disparity between the US and UK price tags, another X user commented: "Of course the Brits have to pay more for it too".
"It's pretty sad for the state of this generation when like 90% of the games they showed are playable on last gen as well," a Reddit user commented, highlighting the fact that several of the titles featured in the presentation, like The Last Of Us Part II, originally launched on PS4.
Softening the blow slightly is the fact that PS5 Pro comes equipped with a 2TB Solid State Drive, or SSD, to store digital downloads. It also supports the newest Wi-Fi 7 standard, so downloads from the store should be speedy.
I'll be honest, after hearing about and seeing the PS5 Pro, I'd rather spend $699.99+ on LEGO I've wanted rather than an semi-half upgrade of a console I already own.
— The Second City Demobat Slayer (@DicloniusGames) September 13, 2024
@PlayStation if you truly cared about your community and listen to the community feed back you would never price the ps5 pro at $699.99 USD pic.twitter.com/BxP4IV5nvR
— Jaden |Nova Gaming| (@Nova_Gaming2024) September 12, 2024
No. I already said this about the pro-model. Yes it has more storage over the launch and slim ps5 consoles but it caused backlash and ask yourself this question? Is 699.99 alot of money just for a digital console
— Michael181 (@Michael18125081) September 13, 2024
Elsewhere, the PS5 Pro comes equipped with a 45% increase in rendering speed for gameplay, with 67% more Compute Units than the original PS5 console, and 28% faster memory. As part of the improvements under the bonnet, the PS5 Pro boosts ray tracing capabilities, which offers calculates the trajectory of individual beams of light to create life-like light, shadows, and reflections that shift in gameplay.
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During the keynote presentation, Sony's Mark Cerny highlighted a new AI-driven upscaling technology, dubbed PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) that aims to provide greater image clarity and increased detail in games while maintaining higher frame-rates. To do that, the console will render frames at a lower resolution to boost frame-rate (critical for fast-paced gameplay since it can improve reaction time from players) and then using machine learning to upscale the image quality of the frames so that they look as sharp as the native resolution. This looks to be the secret-sauce that enables the high-quality visuals, despite the smooth 60 frames-per-second gameplay that Sony hopes to offer to players.
Preorders will begin on September 26, 2024.
