Mark Cerny delivered the news of a new PS5 SKU with the calm we’ve become so accustomed to, but the internet at large seem to be somewhat upset about the price point and calling this a hard skip. Understandable when you consider what is and what isn’t included.
If we start with the stuff you’re actually getting, Mark spoke of the big three:
· Upgraded GPU: With PS5 Pro, they 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: They’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: They’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.
Hopefully this will lead to less fidelity vs performance modes and instead just give you all the bells and whistles in one standard mode, but I have to assume developers will push so much stuff in their upcoming games that we’ll end up there either way. Even so, a lot of recent and upcoming games will be patched to take advantage of the new hardware, including Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and Demon’s Souls just to mention a few. A whopping 8500 backwards compatible PS4 games can also benefit from what they call PS5 Pro Game Boost.
The PS5 Pro comes without a disc drive, so this could very well be PlayStation testing the waters for what the public will accept in terms of price and what’s in the box when the PS6 inevitably gets announced. Looking at the price point though, I’m not sure this is the best idea. It will also include a 2TB drive, a DualSense and of course Astro’s Playroom.
The pricing is as follows when the new box comes out on November 7:
$699.99 USD
£699.99 GBP
€799.99 EUR
¥119,980 JPY (includes tax)
Seems like play definitely has some limits after all. Check out the full announcement with all the nitty gritty details on the PlayStation Blog.
