Sony has announced the latest edition to the PlayStation family, the PlayStation 5 Pro. Though not being a new console, the PlayStation 5 Pro packs major upgrades, and a steep price tag.
Released this month, the PlayStation 5 Pro has been in the works for a number of years. The console was built to enhance the power of the PS5, and provide greater immersion to first-party titles like Spider-Man 2, God of War: Ragnarok and The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered.
The console allows for 4K resolution support and 60 frames per second alongside each other. Both qualities were not available together on the standard PS5, making the Pro an enticing offer for some fans who crave for their games to run smoothly and look perfect at the same time.
Though the pros of the console seem to outweigh the negatives, the lack of a built-in disk drive and the price starting at £700 means that fan backlash has been severe. When the original PS5 console was sold in 2020 it cost £500, a digital version was also available as a cheaper alternative costing £400.
Purchasing games through the built-in PlayStation store has become common practice, though many gamers still believe the only way to own a game is to physically have a copy of it. Many PS5 games have transitioned from being disk and downloadable to strictly download only, last year’s Alan Wake 2 for example only recently got physical copies to mark its first year anniversary.
Sony’s shift away from physical games has been slow but with the PS5 Pro being the first new all-digital console the company has released, there’s no telling what the future holds for the PlayStation 6. What makes the PS5 feel like a slap in the face to fans of the console is the fact Sony has sold a disk drive separately to try and get consumers to spend more money.
In a bizarre move, the console also lacks a stand, but at least the controller that comes with the console has a longer battery life. For all the technical enhancements, key parts of what makes the PS5 such a good console have been left out.
The enhancements the console brings may seem game-changing, but in reality for the price it is being charged at, it’s subpar. You can spend half as much on a second hand PS5 that comes with a disk-drive. The graphical enhancements shown of earlier this summer didn’t do much to sell many on the console since when put side by side, many games looked the exact same between both consoles.
Surprisingly, the console has sold out at most retailers and has received the same scalper prices the PS5 had during its first launch cycle. If you’re desperate for your PlayStation first-party titles to have a major boost in frame rate and graphical fidelity, invest in a PC – most of the games that were toted as “Exclusive” on launch have been ported over making the PS5 Pro just another scam pulled by Sony.
Featured image credit: Sony