PlayStation 5 Pro Doesn’t Justify The Need For Its Existence

The PS5 has come a long way since November 2020 and the air is now filled with rumors of the PlayStation 5 Pro launching in 2024. Mid-gen refreshes have been around for a decade now but I have to say it.

The PlayStation 5 Pro does not deserve to exist.

Being The Most Powerful Console With The Most Barren Library Isn’t A Flex

When this generation was about to begin, Microsoft marketed the Xbox Series X as the most powerful console. Was it truly all that it was marketed to be? In terms of power, yes it was. The hardware it contained boasted power unheard of in consoles at the time.

What did all of that power ultimately amount to? Nothing.

Not because it wasn’t worth it but due to the quality of titles available on said hardware. And before you start throwing a fit, I’m using “quality” in a broad context here. It’s not referring to just a game but also how well it’s optimized.

Industry favoritism? Developer complacency? Tough tech to work with? I don’t know what the reason is but being underpowered isn’t one of them. At least not in the case of Series X.

Similar to Xbox, the PS5 is still relatively barren in terms of content. I know it got a few new exclusives but don’t kid yourselves. It’s a fact that this generation has been an utter disappointment thus far. Tech and games are just one of the myriad reasons. Political insertion, layoffs, and other industrial complications have spelled this doom.

Why exactly does this console generation need a mid gen refresh on ps5 or Xbox series?
byu/Td01241 invideogames

Amidst all that, a mid-gen refresh with the PlayStation 5 Pro is hardly justified. But Sony loves money and ill-advised consumers love shelling it out.

And that’s not all. Given how strong devices have become and how far technology & developer skills have gone, software should perform as smoothly as cutting a slice of butter without feeling any resistance.

But …

Even With All This Power, Games Struggle To Perform Well. Why?

The answer is as clear as the crystals you’ve seen in the numerous Final Fantasy entries over the years. Perhaps even clearer.

Companies hyper fixate on the wrong things, breathe down the necks of developers and there’s just not enough time given to projects in the oven.

There’s only one extra reason that may hold true in some cases—lazy devs.

In my opinion though, that’s more of an exception than the norm. The opposite may hold true in terms of data compression as games cross the exosphere with their file sizes. Man, I’m so sick of having to download 150 GB of data for something that looks more or less the same as a PS4 title.

I came across this article on tomsguide.com that went over the rumored specs of PlayStation 5 Pro. One section of it, however, was utterly devoid of common sense. Here’s an excerpt from that piece.

However, some recent high-profile games have been released in a frustratingly poor technical state (Last year’s Star Wars Jedi Survivor is a prime example). So there are reasons to believe that developers could do with a little bit more power to play with, and the PS5 Pro could give them plenty of extra juice. 

Seriously?

That’s not where it ends.

Hardware Homogenization Is Real

Remember that “every day, we stray further from god” meme? Well, we’re straying from hardware diversity between console and PC at this point. Feel free to say whatever you like but I’m adamant on this.

Slowly but surely, consoles are starting to pack as much power as an upper-mid-tier gaming PC and perhaps a lower-high-tier rig. Spending upwards of 400 bucks on a console followed by $500 or more four years in for a device that can only run games (most of which are out on the previous generation) is perhaps the most low-braincells decision in my humble opinion.

Are Sony and Microsoft unknowingly homogenising their consoles to the extent they are almost unrecognisable when compared to PC’s? And why this is great for PC gaming, but possibly a terrible direction for consoles.
by intruegaming

On top of that, you’re supposed to pay for subscription services to pay online. As if the perpetually rising costs of games with no real consumer benefit weren’t enough.

In that amount, you can build a respectable gaming PC that’s capable of producing a similar, if not greater, amount of power and assist you in tasks other than gaming. Not to mention the ability to use mods.

Let’s not act like modders haven’t fixed issues with games or made things better faster than developers in the past. And as far as bad ports are concerned, it’s not as if console versions fare better in most cases involving third-party releases.

There’s a reason why games will continue to be unoptimized despite stronger tech.

Once you have a beefcake piece of hardware, companies breathe down the necks of developers to leverage that power. To what end? High-fidelity visuals and gimmicky technology that only the least number of consumers even remotely care about. Yes, I’m talking about raytracing.

In pursuit of leveraging that power to push past existing boundaries, devs unlock a new level of bugs and optimization issues despite having the “Ultra Instinct” of hardware. Furthermore, due to suits being impatient and publicly traded companies wanting to please investors, these projects barely get the amount of time needed in the oven.

This is the cycle and it will continue till the end of time. You might wonder why but the answer is simple—it costs less money and ends up looking marginally better.

And companies love to market stuff that looks good.

Exclusivity Is No Longer Beneficial

Yes, believe what you will but that’s what I choose to put my money on. Shawn Layden can say whatever he wants regarding exclusivity but it’s done nothing for PlayStation 5 in the last four years. And now we have the PlayStation 5 Pro on the horizon.

For what? Ask yourself that and don’t tell me it’s for FF7: Rebirth or Rise of the Ronin.

Coming back to exclusivity, it’s too much of a risk now. Due to the pursuit of pointlessly high visual fidelity, game development costs continue to skyrocket. The Insomniac data breach revealed the budget details for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2—a whopping $300 million. An amount no one could see in the game or justify.

What did it lead to? Layoffs.

Not only that but it took a long time for the game to break even let alone enter the realm of profitability. And it’s not just Insomniac, even Alan Wake 2 suffers from the same ailment. What’s the cause? A lack of physical release and exclusivity to Epic Games. Granted it’s because of funding reasons but at the end of the day, the point remains.

Exclusivity hurts more than it saves. Then you rely on Call of Duty and live service garbage to get you out of this funk.

Takeaway

It’s a free world. Believe what you will or choose to ignore the facts if that’s your wont. But I’ve enough reason to bank on the PlayStation 5 Pro being an attempt at getting ill-advised enthusiasts to shell out more cash.

After all, Sony loves profit and what better way to generate that than by selling a shiny new toy with an exciting tagline?

Maybe it’ll finally come to its senses one day and release Bloodborne on PC too.