Sony held a presentation overnight where they dropped the details of the soon-to-be-released PS5 Pro the next evolution in hardware for PlayStation that is more tempting than you might think for current PS5 owners.
It’s been revealed that the new machine will have a significantly upgraded GPU with 67% more Compute Units than the current PS5 console and 28% faster memory. What this really means is that you’ll get up to 45% faster rendering for gameplay, making the experience much smoother.
There’s an increase in storage space as the machine is upgraded to 2 TB to fit more games on the console, this also fits with the fact that it is essentially a digital version of the console out of the box, but you can add an Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive, and the ability so swap out console covers will be coming along a bit later.
The PS5 Pro will also introduce Advanced Ray Tracing, a powerful ray tracing that provides more dynamic reflection and refraction of light. This allows the rays to be cast at double, and at times triple, the speeds of the current PS5 console.
It seems everyone is obsessed with adding AI to every piece of tech these days, and PlayStation have decided to do it through PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, an AI-driven upscaling that uses a machine learning-based technology to provide super sharp image clarity by adding an extraordinary amount of detail.
PS5 Pro provides gamers with amazing graphics at high frame rates. Mark Cerny, lead architect for PS5 Pro gave plenty of detail in the presentation that you can watch here:
Another enhancement with the PS5 Pro is “Game Boost”. This can be applied to more than 8,500 backward-compatible PS4 games playable on PS5 Pro. This feature may stabilize or improve the performance of supported PS4 and PS5 games. Enhanced Image Quality for PS4 games is also available to improve the resolution on select PS4 games. PS5 Pro will also launch with the latest wireless technology, Wi-Fi 7, in territories supporting this standard. VRR and 8K gaming are also supported.
Games that are already looking to support the new hardware through free updates include Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, Demon’s Souls, Dragon’s Dogma 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Gran Turismo 7, Hogwarts Legacy, Horizon Forbidden West, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, The Crew Motorfest, The First Descendant, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, and more. To be fair, you had me at Alan Wake.
The overall look of the console is fairly consistent with the PS5 Digital Version of the console. The height & width are the same size as the current PS5 model.
Overall, I’ll admit I had preconceived ideas that a Pro model was unnecessary as I feel like my current generation PS5 has performed well from day one. However, after seeing the upgrades and comparisons in the presentation it does feel even more like a Pro version than the PS4 Pro was many years ago and will greatly expand the life span of this generation of PlayStation consoles.
The PS5 Pro console will be available November 7, 2024 at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $699.99 USD, £699.99 GBP, €799.99 EUR, and ¥119,980 JPY (includes tax). There’s no word on Australian Retail Price, but going on these numbers, don’t expect it to come in under $1,000.
It will include a 2TB SSD, a DualSense wireless controller and a copy of Astro’s Playroom pre-installed in every PS5 Pro purchase. I’d highly recommend the larger version of the game Astro Bot as your first game purchase though if you are new to PlayStation, it’s a game of the year contender.
