Sony’s latest cash cow, the brand new PS5 Pro, has just been announced for release on a further date. Said console, as per Mark Cerny, is supposedly their most powerful console yet, the particular features of which have been pointed out in the last post on PS5 on our website here.
Now, as a self-proclaimed gamer or a console user, one might be tempted to buy such a product, trying to get in on the hot new thing, but there are certain factors to consider that should be considered before a potentially hasty decision is made.
Firstly, the pricing of the console is set to $699.99, but that’s without a disc drive and vertical stand, buying which will drive the price upto roughly over $800. It’s a bit of a head scratcher of a financial decision, even if one has spare change to throw around. Moreover, different countries will have different pricings. In the UK, the price of the console is £700, which converts to about $915. And for countries like Bangladesh, only time will be able to tell.
Besides that, the product’s technical presentation video, made by Mark Cerny, has also faced immense backlash from the community on YouTube. The aforementioned pricing debacle concerning a lack of disc drive and vertical stand have been a topic of discussion (read: flaming) in the comment section, but besides that, the truthfully not-very-attractive features and specifications have also been a source of very passionate opinions.
And that has been well reflected by the 135k dislikes to 90k likes ratio to the video. The reveal trailer video faced similar amounts of negative attention, with an astounding 52k likes to a 166k dislikes ratio.
As for the features and specifications that have driven fans to such passion, they’re really not as attractive as Sony tried to portray them to be. This stands true even more so when you think about the fact that previous versions of the base product were also made to sustain future games, which makes the PSSR and AI driven upscaling stuff not really flaunting to the discerning eyes, ears, and head of a thinking person. So really, a PS5 normal or slim version sounds more inviting to just about any wallet.
Nonetheless, one must admit that the PS5 Pro is a smart business move, as they have adapted the Apple approach when it comes to marketing the product to the right customer base. Despite the previous mentions of its fizzle for its buck, it has to be said that the console is not for the average gamer or console user, who actually has to do some budget management to remain financially stable in the long-term. Rather, it seems to primarily veer towards those who can afford the product with all the extra add-ons and still manage to find stray thousand dollar notes in the pockets of most of their clothes. There is a surprisingly large sum of people like that, so Sony will probably be meeting at least their break-even point.
Now, in all conversations involving gaming intended products of this price range, there will always be people who would undoubtedly suggest building a gaming PC for the same price, which has its own perks of multi functional capabilities and cheaper game prices. But in terms of consumer ease, basic performance and quality, the PS5 Pro is definitely unrivaled in its pricing category.
But, the answer to the outstanding question of whether or not it is financially wise to just buy a previous version of the PS5 still remains a resounding yes. So, let us here at the Daily Esports make the shady financial decisions so that you can make the smart ones, like purchasing a PS5.
Tahsin is a sub-editor at The Daily Esports.