General PS5 Stuff

Never has a console stand been more popular than today. Suddenly it’s a must-have accessory!

So where do you stand on it Derbs?

I'm not sure the old "people will pay X for X so this fine" argument ever really excuses questionable pricing. Different markets and products have different precedents and expectations associated with them and aren't necessarily comparable.

Playing devil's advocate for a second, no, you won't be able to build a comparable PC for the same money and in that sense, it's honestly not the worst deal ever for the performance or tech on display here, it could even be classed as quite reasonable at a push when compared like for like under a certain light.

But it's not a PC (or a phone), it's a console and as AgentHomer mentioned on the previous page that comes with certain expectations, price being one of them.

Even for an enthusiast level console, it's just completely unprecedented. The last PlayStation Pro model was literally half the price of this thing, and that's not even accounting for the drive and stand shenanigans.

That said, the pace of graphics technology and the console market in general (not to mention the worldwide economy) have changed drastically since then, Microsoft warned Digital Foundry as much nearly 4 years ago. As a result I don't think any of us were reasonably expecting it to be cheap.

Is it costing Sony that sort of money to produce? Does it need to be that expensive to even be viable financially? I honestly have no idea. Should a console, even an enthusiast level one be £700? I'd wager most people would say no.

It'll sell obviously, of course it will. There's always an enthusiast crowd out there who'll stump up the cash, heck if this was my main platform I'd happily include myself in that group (assuming the money was burning a hole in my pocket at the time obviously), I'm a total whore for new tech. I'll be interested to see what happens after the initial 6 month flurry though.

I think it’s expensive.

Is it for everyone? No. There seems to a be a lot of “but who is actually going to buy it” in here but the PS4Pro was launched 3 years after the PS4 and ended up with about 15-20% of total PS4 sales (iirc), mostly new players to the ecosystem. I doubt Sony are looking at it as a huge seller but I expect they’re looking for a similar effect, lifetime. They know the cost is prohibitive. The Slim exists and is plenty good enough for the majority of people. They can safely ignore this.

Is it worth it to me? Probably. Will I get one? I’m on the fence. It’s a lot of cash. But I like new toys and I’m all in on the digital ecosystem since the PS4 launch, I have a TV that can maximise it, etc. I’m the enthusiast market, and I don’t see it being any different to upgrading a gaming PC (yes, PCs can do more things but I doubt the average gaming PC owner actually does use it for much more than gaming, browsing and media consumption).

I didn’t think it was a good reveal - Cerny doesn’t exactly light up the room - but I also don’t think it needed any specific software to show it off necessarily. They basically showed all of the major 1st party since launch, plus a couple of soon-to-release titles, getting necessary upgrades to do what everyone has wanted for this gen since launch - 4K, 60fps and fancy effects. It’s a no compromise, high cost upgrade, as far as consoles go.
They’ve said in articles that there will be 40-50 games on day one with Pro patches - not just for 4K 60 but for added lighting and visual effects, PSSR will work across the entire library (though some games will require patches) and it will support PSVR2 down the line for higher res and cleaner pictures. All of that sounds good. Rolling out back-compat. patches is cool, and should be a baseline, but it’s never going to be particularly exciting to existing owners who’ve played the library. I’m more curious about how currently in dev. titles will utilise it as they launch, GTA6 being the main one in my mind.

The launch models got the cheap and ugly black plastic block. The Slim revision doesn’t have the fancy looking silver stand included, and I wouldn’t have expected the Pro to have it either. It’s not a needed accessory.

I thought it was odd that everyone seems to be adding it to the cost of the Pro is all.

They could just design a console that stands up on its own, like the other two.

Would be good timing for Naughty Dog to announce something, anything, for the PS5.

”We’ve hired an editor. Druckman will no longer be allowed to wibble on endlessly as if he’s writing a US TV series that pads things out for 26 weeks.”

They claw that money back across games and subscription services. The arguement that a pc costs more doesn't weigh true across its lifespan when you consider total cost of ownership.

I don't mind the price, I do mind not making major changes to the design of the box and not having a new game ready to get us excited. Spec bump and put some stripes on it.

They should have announced Concord as a pack-in game.

If they had been just a little cleverer the could have bundled a Bloodborne remake with it and they would have flown off the shelves

Probably sell out anyway what with their amateur scalper competitors and well off eejits

I think Sony are tasting the waters here, flexing their muscles to see how much they can get away with... And they can do it relatively gamble-free, since developers already target the PS5 as their base console and already support the quality or performance concept. So, if the PS5 Pro gives them a cost-free quality *and* performance mode for bells and whistles there's nothing to lose.

Also, they firmly introduce to their customer base the idea that a powerful console dictates a premium price, also gamble-free. Imagine if the PS6 was that expensive at launch without this in-between and no Microsoft alternative, gamers would be fuming. Now, not so much, there will be a precedent.

Finally, they will be better prepared, should Microsoft introduce a next gen powerful console earlier than expected (in the next couple of years). They will be no rush to bring the PS6 to the market, when they can sell this, even reduce its price if necessary...

A couple more thoughts: I believe that the PS5 launch price was not entirely Sony decision, their hand was forced by Microsoft announcing the Xbox Series X price first. Also, unless something unexpected happens, I don't see Sony launching PS6 at a lower than this price. Powerful components sell at premium prices due to demand from many industries and I don't see that changing any time soon. Microsoft had the right idea with the Series S, but they messed up the execution.

£700 sounds like a lot, and it is. But then so is £550 for a series X with a 2tb hdd and sparkles on the outside. So the question then becomes is the PS5 Pro worth the extra £150 which suddenly doesn't sound quite so bad.