With its half-generation console update, Sony is naturally ramping up its high-profile marketing.

The pricing of the PlayStation 5 Pro could be called extremely divisive, but when inflation is taken into account, it was still less expensive than the PlayStation 3 when it was released. Game industry analysts and developers alike say the console’s release was logical given the market and the hardware. And from Sony, PlayStation Senior Principal Product Manager Toshi Aoki told IGN this about the PlayStation 5 Pro – we learn that it was planned BEFORE the base console was released:

“Well, the technologies that I just mentioned that we’re putting in to create new experiences for gamers, and also not just the technological differences, but the SSD, the Wi-Fi 7, and the new technologies that surround gameplay as well. So it’s more of a complete package that’s going to deliver that exceptional value to the gamers… the most engaged gamers that we’re targeting.
“With the PlayStation 5 Pro, we offer all these new technological innovations, and we added the two terabyte SSD as well as the Wi-Fi 7. We think as a complete package, it will appeal to the most gamers. For the disc drive, it is an option for players. Not all players have disks, although most players do…but we have the option of being able to add that for those players. So I think it’s more of a balance of the value proposition that we’re giving. We started discussing this before the PlayStation 5 actually came out because the PS5 specs were already set. We were ready to launch and everything. We knew, of course, as you mentioned, that technologies evolve every year,” Aoki said.

So it feels a little bit like a half-generation upgrade was planned from the ground up, with 67% more processing units and better ray tracing performance than the base PlayStation 5, and there’s also mention of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution upscaling.

The PlayStation 5 Pro will be available from November 7th for €800, but that doesn’t include the price of the Blu-ray drive and vertical stand.

Source: WCCFTech, IGN