It's official, the PS5 Pro is launching on November 7 at the golden price of $699. But is it really worth the additional $200 from the original PS5?
While a recent tech demo of the console gave us some insight, we still have very little official information about the PS5 Pro. We do, however, have a lot of leaks to pad out Sony's brief technical tease. So what are the rumors? And how do they compare to how the PS5 currently stacks up?
Let's see what a PS5 vs. PS5 Pro matchup could potentially look like.
PS5 vs. PS5 Pro: Specs
PS5 vs. PS5 Pro: Price
Even disregarding the specs, Sony recently hiked the price of the PS5 to roughly $550 in Japan. It was likely that the PS5 Pro was going to hit an even higher price point, but $699 is a massive increase. To be fair, Sony does claim that the GPU is 45% faster, the ray-tracing calculations are doubled, and you get that sweet AI-upscaling from the PSSR (more on that later).
I did say I'll have more pause when considering a PS5 Pro priced at $700, and that remains the case. Considering that the cheapest PS5 you can buy is technically $449, spending an additional $250 is a little harder to justify. For $250, you could buy a Nintendo Switch Lite ($200) and a few indie games.
PS5 vs. PS5 Pro: Performance
We finally have first-hand information about the PS5 Pro. According to Mark Cerny, the PS5 Pro's GPU is 45% faster and the ray tracing is calculated at double or triple the speeds of the PS5. The aforementioned PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) is an AI-driven upscaling technology, similar to Nvidia's DLSS.
That seems like a high percentage, but is it? Consider playing a game at 4K/30 fps, which most AAA titles cap out at in terms of quality. If the upgrade is 45%, you'd be around 43.5 fps. (If that is in fact what the interviewee implied, at least.)
This generation of consoles had lofty promises of showcasing games at 4K/60 fps. The list of AAA games capable of that is short. So, while the PS5 Pro may be leagues more powerful than the PS5, I don't see it reaching those lofty goals.
It could make it more possible for games like Starfield to stop launching at just 30 fps. And if we're talking about a game that's already at 60 fps, we could see it jump to 87 fps, which is a pretty significant difference.
Despite that. the video above showcases a demo of The Last of Us Part II, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and Rachet & Clank: Rift Apart running at 60 fps at a Fidelity resolution. In performance mode, it showcased sharp graphics at an even higher frame rate. Then a clip of Horizon: Forbidden West revealed how the PS5 Pro adds more detail in the skin and hair of the characters.
Ray tracing won't just get a boost but also find itself on additional objects, like the cars themselves in Gran Turismo 7. Hogwarts Legacy also got a similar upgrade.
Meanwhile, we don't know much about the CPU other than a rumor it'll see a 10% increase in performance, jumping from 3.5 GHz to 3.85 GHz clock speed. It's nice to have, but not worth the upgrade cost.
However, increasing the memory speed by 28% could help with loading and reduce any slowdown you might be experiencing in chunkier AAA games.
PS5 vs. PS5 Pro: Games
Yes, games. If you thought you wouldn't have to worry about this, you're wrong. You see, not every game will be able to benefit from the advantages of the PS5 Pro. We'll likely see certain games get an "Enhanced" sticker, similar to last generation.
Needless to say, PS5 exclusives like God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West will likely get this upgrade. However, whether we'll see it come to third-party games is entirely up to developers. We did see it for Alan Wake II and Hogwarts Legacy in the demo above.
If a game isn't specifically optimized for the PS5 Pro, it'll still benefit from the improved performance. But if a title is capped at 30 fps or 60 fps, will it be affected at all? Maybe not. Developers would need to uncap their games' frame rates for the PS5 Pro to work its magic. This is another reason developers need to provide more graphics settings in console games.
Outlook
We're expecting to hear more about the PS5 Pro before its official November 7 launch date.
We will get a better idea of how the PS5 Pro and PS5 actually stack up against each other when we have the new console in our hands. Since it's possible that not all games will take full advantage of the PS5 Pro's performance and features, developer contribution will determine whether or not it's worth getting the PS5 Pro.
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