After months of speculation and leaks, Sony has finally revealed the PlayStation 5 Pro. And from the sounds of it, it will be a worthwhile upgrade for those disappointed by the lack of power in their baseline consoles — so long as you have the cash flow to pay the exorbitant asking price.
Here’s everything we now know about the PS5 Pro.
PS5 Pro Price
PS5 Pro will cost $699 in the U.S. when it launches on November 7.
PS5 Release Date
The console will include two terabytes of hard drive space, a DualSense wireless controller, and a copy of Astro’s Playroom, the prequel to the well-received Astro Bot, pre-installed.
PS5 Pro Hardware Specs
PlayStation unveiled its new console during a brief nine-minute presentation Tuesday, serving concrete details of its specs. Improvements include a larger CPU that increases the speed of the console's memory, resulting in 45% faster rendering power over the base PlayStation 5. The PS5 Pro will also have better ray-tracing capabilities and a new AI-driven upscaling software called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR).
Mark Cerny, the lead architect of the PlayStation 5, said that the goal of the console is to close the gap between the graphics modes that have become standard in console gaming. Titles like the newly released Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 typically ship with a performance mode that prioritizes framerate (typically at the expense of resolution and graphical detail) and a fidelity mode that maximizes visual effects and resolution (at the cost of response time).
Cerny said that the PS5 Pro aims to let developers retain the best parts of both modes.
“Game creators are adding PS5 Pro support to new and existing titles,” he explained. “And with the big three involved, the results can be pretty amazing. With graphics showing something like fidelity levels of detail, but at double the framerate.”
What Games Will Utilize the PS5 Pro?
The presentation used The Last Of Us Part 2’s PS5 update, the launch title Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and last year’s Spider-Man 2 as examples of games that will now run fidelity modes in 60 frames a second instead of 30 frames per second on base PlayStation 5.
“We can see the PS5 Pro is close to doubling the power of PlayStation 5,” Cerny said.
According to Cerny, the console will also allow game engines to run more efficiently. Games like Horizon: Forbidden West are using the extra power to improve lighting, visual effects, and hair and skin on character models. The presentation also showed how Gran Turismo 7 and Hogwarts Legacy are utilizing the power to add new ray tracing effects without tanking framerates. Cars in Gran Turismo 7, for example, will now be reflected in one another as they get close, even in the fast 60 frames-per-second mode.
Additional games that will use the power of the console include Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, Demon Souls, Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, The First Descendant, and Dragon’s Dogma 2. As a bonus, the console can also use hardware to stabilize or improve the performance of supported PS4 and PS5 games, according to the PlayStation Blog.
Will The PS5 Have a Disc Drive?
The PS5 Pro will not come with a disc drive. The PlayStation Blog revealed that the PS5 Pro will be available as a digital-only console out of the box. Players who want to play disc-based games must buy the same removable BluRay drive compatible with the PS5 Slim.
When is the PS5 Pro Available for Pre-order?
Pre-orders for the PS5 Pro will become available on Sept 26.
PS5 Pro Analysis
It’s a curious decision to release the PS5 Pro right now. Console sales across all companies are down. And while the PS5 Pro seems to make good on many of the features players thought they were getting with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, the $200 markup on the retail price might be a hurdle for those disappointed players. Factor in the extra $70 that players will need to make disc-based PS5 games compatible, and this upgrade seems to be aimed squarely at the most hardcore fans, and maybe those who haven’t made the jump to the current generation.
