Sony's PS5 Pro Seems Unlikely To Get An Xbox Equivalent This Holiday

I’m completely happy with my current PS5 sitting next to my series X.

No optical drive included for that insane price. Ridiculous.

There's also an official blog post (https://blog.playstation.com/2024/09/10/welcome-playstation-5-pro-the-most-visually-impressive-way-to-play-games-on-playstation/). Only improved GPU is mentioned, no word about the CPU or the storage. No disc drive and a nice price tag. As some people already mentioned, funnily enough most games they showed were cross-gen, so far from being optimized for current gen. Seems like a pure waste of money...

edit:
Actually it's 2 TB instead of 1, so my original comment isn't fully correct.

Good.

Mid gen consoles need to stop.

And £700 consoles definitely need to stop.

Oh and the highlight, "vertical stand sold separately".

Didn't we just start getting next gen games? What a weird generation with people slow to adopt and Covid delaying so many games

I was interested until I saw the price 😮 damn 700 is crazy

“Devs are getting lazier at porting games properly so we’ve launched a £700 console to solve that problem.”

Makes me think the ps6 will also be $700 or more. Hopefully xbox sticks with the 2 tier approach next gen so that a budget console is available. The benefits of console gaming are evaporating.

The ps5 pro also doesn't seem necessary. The marketing doesnt sound very appealing either as they are really only able to estimate a percentage increase on what we currently have, there really isnt a new tech to enjoy here. I will stick with the launch ps5.

No chance of me getting that at £700
I guessed £530

Microsoft should have kept xbox studio developed games off PS5 and hit Sony hard with a price war and new exclusive games and taken the war to them.

@GhanaViking

Yep.

Conversely you could view the PS5 as Sony's Series S. They launched it first and waited for higher end hardware to be cheaper to release their Series X.

Which kinda leaves Xbox in limbo. Because you know all comparisons forward will be the PS5 Pro VS Series X.

$700, plus $75 for disk drive, plus tax.

For slightly nicer hair and shiny stuff.

They're on drugs 😆

That price is crazy. I was interested up to about £630 with disc drive. But it’s £170 more so no thanks.

Does have 2tb in it so I guess that’s a little of the cost lol.

At £800+ for the PS5 Pro (if you include the stand and disc drive), I can't see that many people investing in one, which basically means we remain on par between the Series X and the PS5.

I'll wait for the PS6, but the possibilities of it costing close to £1000 are real now...

They had a chance to correct the ugliest console design of all time and chose to just add a few extra grooves?

I don't think graphic fidelity is what's holding the industry back right now. But maybe those boring 3rd person cinematic cutscenes will finally make you feel something in 4K/60.

@OldGamer999 they tried that. It wasn’t working.

MS want money. Hence going to ps with games.

Your mixing things up though the Pro isn’t replacing the ps5 standard. Those will keep selling. Pro was for enthusiasts.

I was possibly interested in the PS5 Pro (I bought the PS4 Pro), but at £700 which doesn’t even include a disc drive…PASS. Even if I could afford it, I can’t justify spending that much money on a mid-generation console.

The pro will be a hard pass for me. Would definitely be interested in an Xbox handheld tho

I mean, is that what the masses are calling for? Hard to justify for that price, but thats just me. If I was going to drop that kind of coin on something gaming related, I'd probably go with a Rog Ally X.

I knew Purebox was gonna write an article on this. Yeah they're sparking some good stuff for that price. Might as well build you a PC for that price.

OH my what is it with those prices???

€799 = $880.98
₤699 = $913.10
¥119,980 = $841.66

$699 is already crazy expensive, but why those insane fluctuations by country?

edit to add estimate with the disk drive attachment bought separately

$779
€919 = $1,013
₤799 = $1,043.49
¥131960 = $926.89

And these costs are all without the disk drive!!! I have not seen enough but I will assume the new disk attachment for the new PS5 will work with this, thats another $79 in the US for anyone with a disk library like me.

The most telling bit of all of this, for me, is that in the video they themselves admit that 3/4ths of players opt to performance modes. I think that shows how little the bulk of the player base cares for the extra pixels. We don't need this. I will likely own one, in 10 years when I can get a used one.

Xbox does not need to chase this, there is next to no point on doing that.

This could benefit Series X.

Since PlayStation is the lead platform, perhaps developers will actually look beyond base PS5 and actually use that 20% extra power the Series X has over base PS5 during the process of tapping into the PS5 Pro - especially if the PS5 actually has true RDNA 2.0 support that the Series X has had...Day 1.

It won't move the needly in Xbox favor - unless of course it can somehow advertise that Series X can do almost as much as a PS5 Pro at $200 less - but at least it could mean that Series X actually gets "used" properly.

@FraserG I think there is a good article hidden in this announcement about how 3/4th of players opt for performance modes over quality modes.

Even Sony's own video seems to say (ironically paraphrased) "you can get the performance you want and already get but the devs get to be happy because you see the pixels they want you to see"

I dont think we ever seen any platform holder or dev give us any stats on how many players pick performance modes over quality.

£700 and no disc drive haha between that and the joke price of the new white series x they must think all gamers are chumps even the most die hard graphic snobs have to see this is not value! It's all getting far to expensive now honestly nearly a grand on slight improvements with no disc drive unless you buy one my sweet jesus🤯🤮🐂💩

@BowsersBuddy no. The ps5 and X are similar already. The S was a budget version.

Pro is for enthusiasts who said the wanted fps and graphics (ps5/X both struggle here). Not intended to sell to the masses really.

But I think at the price even enthusiasts are balking at it.

£700!!! and without the disc-drive?? Sorry, but Sony can eat sand until they choke 🤣. And for all the doomsday sayers predicting and at times demanding that Microsoft leave the console business? Yep, Sony just served up potential appetiser on the future of console gaming without competition..😅.

Sony exec 1: Sales aren't going as well. Either between the earlier Xbox successes or the general cost of living we're just not seeing any growth.

Sony exec 2: hey remember when we launched the PS3 for an insane price

Sony exec 1: YES! Let's release an optional upgrade price that is far higher than anything else, and that'll give us the growth we're missing.

Sony exec 2: How about we charge extra for a disc drive and a stand?

Son Exec 1: Marry me

@Sol4ris There is no doubt its expensive, but in fairness I honestly don't think competition will have any impact on prices going forward. I would not be surprised to see the next Xbox / PS6 also sitting around the £700 price as standard. If gamers want everything running at 4k @ 60fps then the prices have to increase or you get another generation thats out of date before it even launches.Even the switch 2 is sounding like its going to be £500 for a device thats closer to last gen than current gen.

Crazy price, but I wouldn't be blaming Sony so fast. Just look at the prices of PC components, for example. We are paying more for less, even on services, and it's getting worse.

New Switch would be $499, probably. $700 could be a preview of what to expect with the next Xbox and PlayStation.

@MinervaX good work showing the price fluctuations in $. I know there are other factors in play but the UK price being $264 more is ridiculous. Is is due to something like sales tax not being shown in the US but part of the final price in the UK?

Not sure how it works in america compared to the UK / EU

@PsBoxSwitchOwner
Yeah I know, but I think the price of PS5 Pro £700 and you have to have 2tb.
Show Sony becoming arrogant, knowing they have the console market to themselves.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner
I’m an enthusiastic had PS4 Pro and Xbox one x
Have a Sony x95l 65” and Dolby Atmos system.

But I don’t think I’m gonna give Sony £700.
The main reason.

They have forced you to have 2tb adding £100
So it could have been £600 and let me decide to expand memory or not.

They are being extra extra greedy on this.

@armondo36 Plus $75 for disc drive? It comes with 2 tb of storage. Why would you need to buy an additional disc drive?

I thought this would sell at $599 but $699, I believe that's the highest priced console ever.

@Ilyn Posted an updated price list here

It includes percentage increases that show how high a tax would have to be to get the price there.

There are 5 states that have a 0% sales tax (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon)

Highest state-level sales tax in the us is 7.25% (California). If you count local taxes, highest sales tax is 9.55% (some areas of Tennessee)

So cant see sales taxes having to do with the huge discrepancy.

I think it has more to do with the US being the one competitive battleground for Xbox. They may not be neck and neck, but they are strong enough that they need to actually compete.

@Romans12

I believe that's the highest priced console ever

You sure? Sony might have reserved that for thePS6...😉

I like Playstation, I had all from psx to 4, but at this price and many games making it tonpc, I don't see qhy I would get this over a decent pc for the same or a bit more.

@Romans12 3DO was $699 (30 years ago)

Within a week I absolutely believe that Xbox division will release a statement around the lines of "value for money for gamers" a dig at mid gen 'upgrades' that will be carefully worded that will exclude their late 2024 model as that is purely a larger SSD.
They will promote gamepass that will include mention and justification of recent price increases, that Xbox is still very much a viable choice for gamers. And I would agree on that.

I own both Series X and PS5 . I love both. For the GAMES. Not brand loyalty.

I go where accessibility to games, and choice of, and yes, price, dictate which platform gets a certain game bought for from me.

Gamepass, in my opinion is excellent value for money.

PS is great for Spiderman, Last of Us, Uncharted, God of War etc.

But THAT price for the Pro is a massive p take.

@OldGamer999 it SHOULD be £530, as that is about the same as $700...

@Romans12 if you have physical games.

@Dimey
Wow I did not know that.
Same as their TVs in the UK.
WE CALL IT THE Sony tax 🤣

@OldGamer999 100% they should have. It’s like Xbox don’t want to win. Instead Gears and Halo might come to PS and then it’s like well what is an Xbox needed for for a lot of us. Should be keeping all the games and sitting back with good pricing and winning people back into the ecosystem. I would not be surprised by the end of this generation that the numbers between PS5 Pro and Series X will be close and thats with a $200 dollar gap. Series X is said to only be around 9-10 million right now with the others being Series S. Thats not good in my opinion and i think the dev’s hate it too. Cause they have to make sure they have the series S game good cause it’s who will largely be buying those games, unless they are just on GP. Weird weird generation. Lot’s to fix for next Gen. starts with better games.

I waited for the Slim, but wouldn't wait for the Pro. Now that we've seen the pricing, I'm glad I passed.

@HonestHick
A weird generation is absolutely right.
I’ve not known anything like it.
Price hikes, £700 Pro console.
Games gone up.
Xbox putting games on other consoles.

The only ones staying slightly ok are Nintendo.
Hopefully Switch 2 will hit the right spot.

I will not be picking one up. I can’t justify that price at all and no disk drive or stand? No thanks.

$700 then $90 for the disc addon then whatever it is for the base legs to stand it up LMAOOOOOOOOOO

PS5 and series X is all u need for this generation. This is a minimal upgrade at a stupidly high price point. With that price maybe they're aiming to make people that are still to upgrade from last gen to go for the standard PS5. Oh look the standard PS5 is X that's def a lot better value than the pro model. Sony are also like hoping people just keep playing the games that are already out because they currently have nothing announced for next year.

@Romans12 Accounting for inflation, I believe the PS3 was more expensive.

I'm happy with the Series X. I just hope they'll stop this requirement for feature parity with the Series S, so that the full benefits of the Series X can be realised

@Secryt cost of living was comparatively less than it is now though to go along with that inflation. Plus the PS3 saw numerous revisions and price cuts before it finally succeeded.

@OldGamer999 It should be around £640 as £534 is pre Vat and Sony have no control over that, nor do they get any of it. It just looks worse as UK pricing shows tax and US doesn't. That doesn't address the £59 difference as no way is shipping that much in bulk. I reckon £649 should have been the price point for balance.

And 799€ pls stop forgetting Europe is not just UK...

@OldGamer999 most likely switch 2 is gona be as powerful as an xbox one and the price will be 500$ if not more...

@IGN_Commenter Believe it or not the CD-i was even more expensive launching at $1,000. That said the 3DO and CD-i are famous for being sales disasters. At least the 3DO has some decent games though, but still, the price tags proved to be their undoing.

No disk drive at $700. It is a good thing Xbox won't compete with the Pro.