By all accounts, the PlayStation 5 Pro is a high-tech console that’ll make your games look phenomenal thanks to a new custom GPU and machine-learning-based AI upscaling. In short, it’ll make performance modes in the most intense games that much better. However, many were put off by the $700 price tag, which is up to $250 more than the PlayStation 5 Slim.
In an interview with IGN, PlayStation senior principal product manager Toshi Aoki explains the reasoning behind the exorbitant price tag, saying that it’s worth it for all the new technology you’re going to get.
“[The technologies] that we are putting in to deliver new experiences for game players, and also not just the technological differences, but the SSD, the Wi-Fi 7, and the new technologies that surround the gameplay as well,” he said. “So it’s more of a full package that will give that exceptional value to the players … the most engaged players that we’re targeting.”
The pricing concerns weren’t reserved for the console. PlayStation also announced that the PS5 Pro won’t come with a disc drive — that you’ll have to buy separately for $80. The manufacturer had already been experimenting with a detachable disc drive with the PS5 Slim, but at least that console had an option with one included in the box. Aoki added that Sony believes the PS5 Pro is a full package already, and wouldn’t appeal to a lot of its audience.
“It is an option for players. Not all players have discs, even though most players may…but we have the option for being able to add that for those players. So I think it’s more of the balance of the value proposition that we’re giving,” Aoki says.
Aoki confirmed what we’ve all been thinking: The PS5 Pro is a niche console for a special kind of user who Sony is hoping will pay for such a device. It puts it on par with a fairly basic custom gaming PC, though the PS5 Pro’s GPU features tech no other AMD PC has. And based on previews that were published on Wednesday, it could be worth every penny for the right person. It’s just not the mid-gen refresh most of its customers were hoping for.
