The PS5 Pro was announced this morning, and whilst everyone was expecting a higher cost and the a disc drive likely missing in the box, the announcement and subsequent reaction was a lot more extreme than expected.
In case you missed the news, the PS5 Pro will offer improved graphical fidelity, ray-tracing and frame rates with a 2TB SSD and Wi-Fi 7, it will cost $1,199.95 AUD ($699 USD) with the disc drive being available separately for $160.
Will you be buying a PS5 Pro day one?
Aussie price and release date: https://t.co/j0Lp4sVz2P
— PressStartAustralia (@PressStartAU) September 11, 2024
We asked our readers whether they were going to buy one on day one with the three pre-determined responses being yes, no or that more information is needed (performance/trade offers etc). With over 1,700 responses: 10% said yes, 77.4% said no and 12.4% said they needed more information.
Interestingly enough, I asked the same question a week ago when it was very clear a PS5 Pro reveal was imminent, and the responses were very different with 31% saying yes, 51% saying no and 18% saying it depended on the price, with majority of the latter clearly moving more into the no space.
Overwhelming, the feedback this morning is in three key areas:
- The price coming in at $1,199.95 (or $1,360 with a disc drive) marking the first time a console has ever been more than $1,000 in Australia
- The console not having a disc drive in the box with Australia still being very much a physical market and there being fears about the clear move to a digital future
- PS5 Pro performance improvements not yet being clear from game to game with the last mid-gen refresh (PS4 Pro) justifying its existence with clear selling points such as 4K/HDR compatibility
Obviously the first point is unlikely to change outside of price drops + potential trade deals, the second point people will relax on as you can buy a disc drive separately and third one will hopefully become clearer over time as admittedly it’s hard to do in a presentation (and a super short and highly technical one at that).
It’ll be interesting to see how the next 8 weeks or so play out, in terms of what we new games we see revealed and how the public perception continues to change over time. This was never going to be a console that the overwhelming majority picked up day one, but the reaction has been fairly negative this morning.
@shannongrixti The PS5 Pro has been officially revealed with a 2TB SSD, Wi-Fi 7 support, up to 45% faster rendering and PlayStation AI upscaling technology #PS5Pro #PS5 #PlayStation5 #PlayStation5Pro #PlayStation
