PlayStation’s latest quarterly financial report speaks of generally very positive numbers, with profits increasing 42% year-over-year thanks to services, PSN and game sales (especially exclusives), so much so that the company increased its full-year estimates for sales and operating income. A great picture, but with one important negative: a decrease in PS5 sales with 2.4 million units sold against 3.3 million last year, approximately 27% less.
Let’s be clear, we are still talking about good sales numbers, with PS5 having sold 61.7 million units in less than four years, slightly less than what PS4 did in the same period of time, but it is still a question of a sharp decline, although partly physiological, which should not be underestimated. Considering that PlayStation bases its business on the spread of proprietary hardware and consequently wants to reverse this trend in the coming months, with PS5 Pro which in this sense could revitalize the console’s sales.
Power is tempting, but to how many players?
The existence of the PS5 Pro is now an open secret: Sony hasn’t officially announced it, but specifications, details on proprietary technologies and more have emerged, corroborated by reliable sources such as Tom Henderson, portals such as IGN and The Verge, and by tech enthusiasts at Digital Foundry, with the aim of a launch in the second half of Novemberpreceded by an official presentation that could take place at the beginning of September, seeing the progress of PS4 Pro, so as not to cannibalize sales of the standard console in the meantime.
The arrival of this new model on the market could actually give a significant boost to PlayStation hardware sales, starting from the Christmas period, which is the most important from a commercial point of view. Indeed, despite the lack of an official announcement, given the insistence of rumors and the media relevance given to the issue, it cannot be ruled out that a not too small percentage of gamers who have not yet purchased a new generation console are waiting for the Pro model to take the big step.
But a more powerful and roaring model of PS5 would it really be tempting for players? According to the data stolen from the mega leak that hit Insomniac Games, by 2020 PS4 Pro had totaled 14.3 million units in 2020approximately 14% of the 105 million total units of the console sold up to that point. This data shows that the console has indeed met the tastes and needs of a segment of the public, but of limited sizewhich is fine for a model that was ultimately meant to complement the basic one.
For PS5 Pro, things could be different, both positively and negatively. For example, PS4 Pro was aimed at an audience that had a 4K panel, which are much less widespread and more expensive than today. Of course, there were also benefits for those who played on a Full HD screen, between Supersampling and cases of games with performance mode with higher framerates, but limited. This new model, unless Sony is aiming for the mirage of 8K, it would reach a wider user basewith the promise of a more massive implementation of ray tracing, higher framerate and 4K resolution even in Performance mode, also thanks to the much talked about PSSR, an upscaling technology similar to NVIDIA’s DLSS and which should guarantee significantly better results than AMD’s FSR already used on consoles.
On the other hand the price could be a big minus: PS4 Pro was launched in 2016 at 409 euros in our shores, 10 euros more than the launch price of the basic model, which in the meantime had undergone a price cut. PS5 Pro, on the other hand, will necessarily be launched at a price higher than the 550 euros of PS5, pushing maybe around 699 euroscrossing a psychological threshold that could drive away many potential buyers.
There’s also the issue of games. All things considered, 2024 is proving to be a more than good year in terms of exclusives, also thanks to the agreements made between Sony and third parties, and the promising Astro Bot is also on the way. However, at the moment perhaps there’s a lack of that big AAA production that highlights the technical potential of PS5 Pro. Sure, it’s likely that the console announcement will be accompanied by new exclusives, perhaps from Sucker Punch and other internal teams that have been silent for a while, but as confirmed by Sony It is best not to expect any major productions until March 31, 2025so months and months after the new model’s debut.
What do you think? Would you buy a PS5 Pro right now? Do you think there’s enough interest in this more powerful model of Sony’s flagship console?
This is an editorial written by a member of the editorial staff and is not necessarily representative of the editorial line of Multiplayer.it.
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