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On September 10, Sony finally unveiled the $700 Pro edition of its PlayStation 5 console, promising significant improvements to graphics and gameplay. (If you want a disc drive, it’ll cost you an extra $80.) CNET Editor Scott Stein visited Sony’s PlayStation headquarters to play through the brand new PS5 Pro and ask Sony executives what makes this midcycle upgrade different.
In short, Stein reports that the graphics on the upgraded console look great, but it’s not for everyone. While the graphics and gameplay are sharper and smoother, he’s not sure the subtle upgrades will be worth the price for many gamers.
Read more: Exclusive Hands-On: I Played Sony’s Brand New PS5 Pro
“It’s a big, graphically enhanced piece of hardware that can keep pace with the ever-changing PCs, and in some ways even surpass them,” Stein says. “It’s all about making big TV gaming a more enjoyable experience.”
Check this out: My Exclusive PlayStation 5 Pro Demo: What You Get for $700 and Why It Matters
What’s new on the PS5 Pro?
Sony has a blog post in which the improvements are described.
The PS5 Pro features a graphics processing unit which has 67% more compute units than the GPU in the current PS5 console, Sony said. And the PS5 Pro also has 28% faster memory. Expect faster gameplay rendering and an overall smoother playing experience.
There’s also something called advanced ray tracing, a more powerful way to reflect and refract light, allowing rays to travel twice as fast and sometimes even three times as fast as on the current PS5 console.
One of the biggest changes that the PS5 Pro brings is a technology called upscaling, which uses artificial intelligence to create images with greater detail and lighting effects without the need for as much raw performance.
The new console also includes PS5 Pro Game Boost, which can stabilize or improve the performance of over 8,500 backwards-compatible PS4 games that are playable on the PS5 Pro. Enhanced Image Quality is also available, which increases the resolution of select PS4 games. The new console will launch with the latest wireless technology, Wi-Fi 7, in areas that support that standard, and it will also support VRR and 8K gaming.
When will the PS5 Pro be released and for how much?
As you might expect, the PS5 Pro is coming in time for the holidays. You can pre-order the PS5 Pro starting September 26 for $700 and it will be available in stores and directly from PlayStation.com on November 7th.
The console will feature a 2TB SSD, a DualSense wireless controller, and a pre-installed copy of Astro’s Playroom. It will be a discless console, meaning you will need to purchase and download games from Sony or its partners, with the option to purchase the currently available disc drive for the PS5 separately.
Read more: Sony’s PlayStation 5 is entering the ‘final phase of its life cycle’: What that means
Wait, there’s no disk drive included?
That’s right: the $700 cost of the new console doesn’t include a disk drive. Needless to say, this has irked some gamers, who point out that if they’re already paying $700 for the new console, they shouldn’t have to pay another $80 to play games they might already own.
The disc drive was already available. Sony released it as an option with the PS5 Slim in November, though buyers could also purchase a PS5 Slim that came with a disc drive, which they can’t do with the PS5 Pro.
Buyers may have rushed to purchase the existing drives, as gamers on social media complained that they were quickly becoming difficult to find. When CNET checked on Sept. 11, just two days after the PS5 Pro was announced, some online retailers had them, others didn’t.
Amazon: We found one refurbished version on Amazonbut no new offers.
PlayStation Store: The disk drive was in stock at the PlayStation store when we checked it.
GameStop: The disk drive was available for shipping from GameStopand also listed as in stock at the two nearest stores I checked.
Goal: The disk drive was available to ship from Target, but it was listed as out of stock or simply not sold at my local Target stores.
Walmart: As with Target, the disk drive was available to ship from Walmart, but is listed as not available at stores near me.
Best buy: The disk drive was not available at Best Buyeither new or returned in an opened box when I checked it.
Some Reddit users speculated that scalpers had snapped up the drives to resell them for a profit. Others claimed that regular gamers were buying up the drives to avoid being forced to throw away their physical games and buy them digitally.
You can play PS5 games and use the accessories
The PS5 Pro is compatible with current PS5 accessories, including PlayStation VR2, PlayStation Portal, DualSense Edge, Access controller, Pulse Elite, and Pulse Explore.
Several PS5 games are being patched with free software updates to take advantage of the PS5 Pro’s features. These games will receive the PS5 Pro Enhanced label and 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, and The Last of Us Part II Remastered.
Sony is currently selling the PS5 for a starting price of $449 for the driveless model.
What happens now with the PS5?
When Sony announced earlier this year that the PS5 was entering the “final phase of its lifecycle,” the company didn’t explain how its approach to the device would change beyond a cryptic promise to “place greater emphasis on the balance between profitability and sales.”
Rumors suggest Sony won’t be cutting prices by much, instead focusing on convincing existing PS5 owners to upgrade to a PS5 Pro, or convincing non-PlayStation owners to buy a PS5.
One way Sony will make its case is by offering many years of backwards compatibility. The PS5 can “an overwhelming majority” of PS4 games, whether they were purchased on disc or digitally, and we now know the same will apply to PS5 games on the PS5 Pro. And while we don’t yet know if the inevitable PS6 will offer the same ability, it’s likely Sony wants to keep the feature around.
Sony continued to make and sell PS4 consoles, more than a year after the launch of the PS5 in fall 2020.
