Today, about an hour ago, PlayStation lead hardware wizard Mark Cerny finally divulged to the public Sony’s worst-kept secret of this generation (so far), stretching back before even the release of the PlayStation 5: The enigmatic Playstation 5 Pro. It boasts performance upgrades such as better GPU speeds, more efficient Ray tracing, and the introduction of Sony’s AI Super Resolution: PSSR (which sounds kind of funny out loud).
All with the intention to “narrow the divide” between graphics-heavy “Fidelity Mode” and response/framerate-heavy “Performance Mode”. While we at Retro Handhelds spend most of our time looking to the past, let’s share a glimpse into the $699.99 future of what Japan’s second favorite gaming platform has to offer. (Prices mentioned are USD).
The Big Three
In the relatively short coverage we had in the announcement, Sony boasted about the PS5 Pro’s big three upgrades to the original PS5 hardware:
- A Larger GPU:Â The PS5 Pro boasts a GPU with over 67% compute units and 28% faster RAM, yielding a net of about 45% faster rendering.
- Advanced Raytracing: The PS5 Pro will support real-time raytracing for up to triple the speeds of the standard PS5.
- PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR): Sony’s own home-cooked solution to AI upscaling technologies similar to that of DSSR and FSR, amongst others. This boasts pixel-to-pixel upscaling to create a high-fidelity image.
What this means for supported games is clear: High fidelity, high-performing titles with vastly improved real-time Ray tracing and shadows. Our games are running better, our games are looking better, and our electricity bills are going to skyrocket. What time to be alive?
Confirmed Supported Titles
And no particular order, these are the titles that were shown off at the event. Well we have our obvious first-party cases, there are quite a few third-party titles that I’m pleasantly surprised to see:
- The Last of Us Part II
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Spiderman 2
- Grand Turismo 7
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Stellar Blade
- Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
- Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
- Dragons Dogma II
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Alan Wake II
What Are You Buying?
Just like the leaks, The big feature that sets this Wi-Fi router apart from the previous Wi-Fi router Is the presence of these gills attached to the fins of the console, making this quite a beefy fish. I’m assuming that the PS6 will have teeth and an affinity for saltwater. I would also assume that standing the console mounted sideways would be similar to that of the PS5 Slim.
Notably missing is a disk drive, as far as the pictures and renderings go, marking a major step in PlayStation’s all-digital future. What does this mean for your existing physical collection? Well… it appears that the $100 disc drive available for the PS5 Slim is also compatible with the PS5 Pro, which brings me to the price.
You can invest in your very own PS5 Pro for $699.99, which is still less than the StockX price for the PS5 in 2021. Pair that with the Disk Drive and you’re looking at well over $800 total, which is about the cost of the PS5 on StockX in 2021.
Final Thoughts (For Now)
At long last, we can put those pesky PS5 Pro rumors and leaks to rest. I’m pretty excited at its potential and looking forward to future deep dives in what this hardware can pull out of its games. I feel like this is a giant step from the PS5, more so than the PS4 and PS4 Pro. Is the cost right? I can’t say for sure. Just 7 years ago, we scoffed at the idea of the return of $500 consoles. I was personally looking here for the V2 of the DualSense, rumored/leaked about a year ago. Maybe that’s still a plan, but for now, all we have is a quick 10-minute overview.
Are you excited? What games are you looking forward to checking out on it? Will you pay the $700 price of entry, or stick to your tried and true PS5? And more importantly… do you think this release will be overshadowed by the announcement of the Nintendo Switch’s successor later this year?
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