Nah, the PS5 Pro, this cuckoos egg has already been laid down, in front of everyones nose and apparently inside the wrong nest... the nest of Sony themself, not the nest of the gamers seeking out for the very best... no less.

To be fair: The PS5 Pro is better than it looks on the paper. It got AMDs newest AI chip (most likely, exact specs unknown yet) which is RDNA4, a improved RT hardware which is as well RDNA4 level... means, it is probably on par with the current Nvidia 4080 GPUs (AI and RT only... not rasterization.. sadly), surely serious RT power. Because of this new AI chip with unknown capabilities there might be a pretty solid frame generation possible, including RT... finally able to deliver some good graphics with pretty playable frames.

Still... just as i said, it is to soon... 1 year to soon, the gamers are not ready yet and the GPU could have been even better than this on rasterization... non necessary having this potential wasted. And... again... it is a no go, for this price not to include a optical drive... end of story.

Which comes to the last weak point: The high price asked...
The last word is still not spoken yet, perhaps they drop price or another console version may be created because of the bad "waves" they got... everything possible.

But surely... unless the price is not dropped a lot at some point, or... not a drive added... i will save me the hassle of dealing with this... and simply enjoy my good old PS5.

Besides: PC prices... because of the bad economic situation... on PC... are currently extremely low... which was NOT the case for way to many years. You can ask me... i know how expensive PC hardware can get. It is kinda unfair comparing PC hardware price, exactly at the time they got the biggest price drop. However... as well it is unwise from Sony making a announcement including a high console price exactly at this very moment... Sonys marketing truly failed.

I think, the industry simply need more sells, and instead of handing out warranty for the burned CPUs they simply want to lure consumers... instead of warranty simply buy a new cheap CPU, issues with warranty solved. Because they may look powerful but i can assure everyone... CPUs never in my entire life of hardware history... had such a bad quality and such a low "life expectancy". Even the best cooled CPU may not life much longer than 5 years if used almost daily. On laptop... they have to be lucky even to pass the 3 year period, although usual warranty is not more than 2 years.

Another reason is simply... most of the consumer was now blasting all their money already... and now they have to save up as hard as never before. Guess, in the past years... the industry had to much greed and now they kinda burned a huge amount of customers... while, at the same time... offering lame upgrades... a fiasco.

Sure the PS5 may last way longer than many PCs... not because of the capacitors or the PSU (which is probably the first thing dying here) but... kinda wise from Sony (not on purpose... they are lucky) it is still using a old low clocked Zen 2 CPU which got a less sensitive SOC and may be able to survive more heat for a longer period without degradation (leading to instability or even complete failure). The GPU on the other hand is not that sensitive and the cooling is pretty well thanks to the sealed liquid metal design... so at least the quality is not the issue here.

Today was adding me the Dark Souls Trilogy (1, 2 +3), so far the only PS4 BD, to my PS5 collection. 40 coins for a box of all 3 games... that was cheap and good!

On PSN or Steam i would have to buy every single game without bundle and it would cost me around 130-150 coins i guess. Sony and FromSoftware surely loves going digital...

On Vapor it is not much different (for my regional settings):

It is the exactly same game with same quality, with every DLC released so far (guess no new DLCs anymore)... patched to 60 FPS for PS5 and PC. The only difference is the price.

Without drives... oh dear... okay those who do not care can afford throwing money at Sony and Steam, congratulation... please donate me some games in this case (look at my wishlist), thanks in advance to those digital buyers!

Trying to get me the GOTY from Sekiro on BD, could be hard but somehow possible, after this i am most likely done with PS4 and its games.

On Switch, the only games i am interested in are Xenoblade Chronicles 2+3, but.... buying a Switch just for 2 games is pretty pricey. Perhaps if this console is almost for free, the games with high price cut, or... if Switch 2 is backward compatible it is worth it to buy it.

Besides even FromSoftware lately... which was not the case in the past... is not anymore supporting a "non digital approach" in any kind way: On Elden Ring, they decided to release a second version of the game on PS5 but... all they did was to release the almost same "basic game" and including a voucher there... basically a DLC code that will become account bound (the hard DRM... welcome Steam) and on the disc this time there is just the base game "inside". I do not know why they even bother releasing a second disc version... as they seem to have gone digital soon. Reason why i did not buy the second version anymore and i even stopped playing it. I do not think they ever release a "complete version" on a disc, this is not typical; they simply changed their strategy...

At least they make one of the best games, so they can afford it to be a jerk to some customers.

So I was at Best Buy and the checker told me that business is BAD.

I asked "How are the PS5 sales?"

He replied "Nobody is buyin' 'em. People don't have the money."

So if that's the case...

... I expect the PS5 Pro to crash and burn in Nov.

But I'm sure Sony sees what's coming and is just churning out anything they can for quick sales (the PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary Playstation at 1200 units... and certainly a hefty price tag... as well).

My trip to Best Buy today got me to hold off on the PS5 and instead max my PC on RAM and install additional storage. While there are a few games that I really want to play on PS5, most aren't exclusive to this generation and most of the best "PS5 games" are actually PS4 titles; there just aren't enough PS5 exclusives to justify the price point ATM. And with the world economy slowing and certainly hardware to stack up (and fewer exclusives coming anytime soon), I'll wait to see if the price falls substantially (I expect it will). But again...

... this doesn't bode well for the even more expensive (and marginally improved) PS5 Pro.

And here I was thinking it wasn't such a bad deal after all.

4080 performance for about 700 euro's and for that price you get a controller and some memory + a storage disc... Not to mention that sleek design.

Combine this with a 150 ayear euro costing playstation plus subscription and you have the most flawless way of enjoying most game titles for a 1000 euro cost over a 2 year period meaning a whopping 41 euros a month! for the first 24 months. That price drops even more if you keep the thing for 2 more years!!!! ending with a 27 euro's a month over a freaking 48 monthly period!!!

Like bazam man!!!

The best sensible deal anyone can get if they are into gaming and into economics (no i'm not talking about those creepy kids that hang around in online corners stalking people to death with nonsensical theories and heavens forbid a do-or-die interpretation of what it means to be a sort of gamer that probably sprang forth through some kind of neglect during those oh so important first couple of infant years)

Okay so we dealt with gaming and economics which leaves only one more part to address which is.... of course
the planet

Yes they are green and mean people!!! The PS5 pro averages at a 216w/h p/g power consumption and we can safely say that their new monster will probably add a few more watts. We do see an fairly large increase over PC when compared to the PS4 but Sony can't endanger their customer expectation. Of course Nintendo is King in this matter and the PC MasterRacers are the foul blooded lunatics in this scale but Sony does a damn good job into providing you with the opportunity to create an as small as possible carbon footprint while enjoying your hobby!

For example did you know that Sony provides information such as that downloading a game onto your drive is the easiest way to reduce a footprint. If you compare downloading with buying physical and streaming you find that the amount of resources needed for downloading a game is vastly superior to buying a physical copy or streaming a title? Now with streaming you have to add that streaming is the superior option if you only want to check a title for a couple of hours but who does that i ask you???
So remember.... streaming for demo behavior and downloading for the full green experience!!! All information freely available through the PS network!!!

So.. with all that said the ultimate success of this product will ultimately depend on willingness to buy another product.
As i'm you sure you understand by now the offer is valid..... if this validness pulls through to win the day is as much of a guess at this time than anyone's prediction

In general, to bring this complicated matter up once more.

Firstly: I DO NOT BUY A CONSOLE WITHOUT A DISC DRIVE, BECAUSE THIS IS THE ONE BIG REASON I STILL USE A CONSOLE. If a console is without a drive and not even with more than 5 true exclusives anymore vs. PC or Steam, then my "console days" are ultimately over, forever.

In this case, without a disc drive, the console would be nothing more than a well optimized super-sleek-mini PC with otherwise the same traits and games any Steam PC gamer got with nearly the same games (just up to 5 exceptions every new generation). Actually, one trait lesser because modding is impossible or with big hassles.

DRM free is another special thing, which is mostly (90+% on my collection) only available on GoG, so this is not a direct competitor here. If Sony is competing, the next competitor is not Nintendo nor MS, it is Valves Steam. Not GoG because GoG is simply, just like Nintendo, with a pretty unique fanbase and mostly even different customers. Not even EGS, EGS is just to small and actually Sony is even a shareholder of EGS.

Sony simply made the "wrong message" by providing a digital only PS5 pro, although it can be upgraded still. It does not matter the price, it is simply the wrong message. Yes, there are customers willing to pay a lot for a even faster mid gen console, but, "they want it all"... they are rarely or barely interested into a digital only model. Those buyers willing to pay a fortune are "maximalist" not "minimalist"; this is the thing Sony may have gotten wrong. While the PS5 slim is not even fully modular, comparable to the first PS5, because there is no custom-plate anymore in order to make a custom-design. This fun feature for "maximalist players" as well has been killed for the sake of going even smaller.

It is just a loveless design, to be blunt, but yes indeed... there is no smaller "gamer hardware" which got so much power with the same size, so it should be adorable for "gadget lovers". Laptops? No way... they simply can not cool this stuff down the same way a PS5 can do, simply not optimized for, because a allrounder-hardware can never be that efficient compared to a specialized device.

It is also wrong trying to compare a PS5 Pro or non Pro directly with a PC with the exact same specs because a PS5 game can be optimized to this hardware and it will run better compared to THE SAME PC hardware, this is a fact. So... a PC which is equally "proper" running is more likely to have perhaps 25% stronger hardware. Sure, a PC is more versatile but it is not that well optimized in many cases, so it will need a performance-bonus.

What it means simply is, according to this maths, a PS5 got at least 6700 XT or RTX 3070 performance parity and a PS5 Pro at least 4070 Super parity. I will not even compare another AMD GPU for the Pro because yes, a 7800 XT may have rasterization parity (at the peformance level) but not RT parity. The RT is more likely at the level of the current Nvidia gen, or simply "one AMD gen further ahead".

So, according to my maths, a comparable PC for PS5 parity is at last 600 USD with bad quality hardware and up to 800 USD with good quality hardware. So the normal PS5, priced at 450 USD (always including taxes), is clearly the way better value. For those seeking for value, it is clear what to get.

With the PS5 Pro the cost is surely higher, not hard to guess. I already made the maths, and by using a 4070 Super (so there is clearly without doubt performance parity, even if poorly optimized).

In order to get a comparable performance out of a PC it will be around 800 with bad quality hardware and up to 1200 USD with good quality hardware. It is now possible building a PC at this price range but it is now the same value, not worse anymore.

In order to have the same value compared to the old PS5, the PS5 Pro including DISC drive and taxes will cost around 800-850 USD, not anymore around 150 USD higher vs. the normal PS5/PC comparison. This means, the value of the PS5 Pro is simply, by about 150 USD weaker vs. the old PS5. In order to reach the same value, the PS5 Pro would need a price tag of 650-700 USD, including disc drive and taxes.

However, Sony was doing very minor profit on the old PS5 including drive, which is now priced at around 450 USD, with a estimated production cost of around 400 USD or even more. So, there is not more than 50 USD profit each piece, which is probably worse than the profit Nintendo is getting out of each Switch, but surely not any better.

There is the thing, Sony knows pretty well that only about 15% of the hardest gamers or fans are getting the PS5 Pro, because it was the same on the PS4 Pro and this piece was way cheaper too. So, i guess, Sony kinda got in mind "the price is not a matter here as we are only trying to reach the 10-15% of the top-customers" and perhaps if they charge to much the 15% may drop to 10% or lesser, but this is in short and mid-term not really a issue because AMD is struggling to produce sufficient pieces. AMD is not the only one leeching those manufacturing capacity empty... Nvidia and Intel is soon very active as well, So, Sony is not even capable to ONLY provide 5-10% of the gamers properly for up to 1 year i guess, there is simply to less capacity. So they got in mind, it is no issue simply to charge up to 200 profit a piece... although because of new technology it is more like 100-150 USD profit i assume... because there will still be shortages... no matter if they make it less popular doing so.

So, yes... value is not great but still "acceptable", considering the situation on the industry. Sure, it is not cheap anymore but it can not be considered robbery. What is clear: Sony is not willing to take any losses anymore but same can be said for Nintendo. As well, have to take into account, Sony is not able to use a cheaper nm-node because their console will simply not anymore be able to fit inside the TDP-target, which is around 220 TDP i assume (in theory up to 250 W TDP is still OK but not inside a "slim design", in a slim a 220 W is close to the red spot).

Guess no bad video to make the situation "more realistic" for all sides:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQs3LRIVEyE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOb0wn8UM_o

Ultimately it simply means; sure it is NOT the value the old PS5 got... but this old PS5 is targeted toward the "poor mainstream" and not toward "hardcore" or simply "PS-fans", who are willing to spend more than just "good value".

Secondly: The only true reason i would still upgrade to a PS5 Pro at the current time is because i want to spare my old fully upgraded PS5 from further use, because this is the very first PS5 model, still in a great shape and actually the only PS5 Sony made a small loss in the beginning with. It is a rare piece, actually, in this shape and with the upgrades involved, not any more common than the PS5 Anniversary edition, which got sold out almost instantly.

Yet, i wonder why Sony did not create even more pieces... they could have easily sold 30 000, not just 12 000 of them. Probaby because they simply struggle producing sufficient pieces at the current time. They even was charging a 300 USD bonus, so the PS5 Pro Anniversary was going for around 1100 USD, now this is really high but it got almost instantly sold out, although not a wonder because 12 000 world wide is close to nothing.

Anyway, to me it would make sense so my "good old PS5 with the soon rare first gen design can now go into retirement" and still be able to be a viable backup with all the stuff ready and installed. However, from the "upgrade-term" it would not be sufficient to me luring me into sneezing so many coins into it... unless i never had any PS5 before (or if i only had a 08/15 trash PS5 already, obviously making me a minimalist in this case).

So, guess i still have to consider it... if i still may get one, but not without a disc drive bundle, thats clear. No disc drive, no buy... out of question. If so... it may be able to give some value, as i do not only get more performance but i even will not have to use the old PS5, the valuable first gen spec, more than 4 years in a row... else i worry... this special PS5 may not survive the 8 years required.

Besides, Sony should have used the good old local store everywhere in every country. This would be the BEST way to prevent scalpers because those shops got more control over it, they know their customers and are verifying the purchase manually, in many cases. Instead, Sony was selling almost any Anniversary Edition on their own website and it was a paradise for Scalpers. Who cares.,. it is a ugly overpriced hardware which only got its value "from a different skin that makes its rarity". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjUkhShDFHY

Some wise words, especially related to game preservation and how the "new hype digital-gamers" obviously do not care about, and by free will are gladly exchanging their rights for nothing else than "convenience" and the in many terms cheapest discount possible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T6fCLpAA_Q

Yes, such an short-living aspect, the people buying the cheapest digital-console and buying the new PSN-super huge discount sales, will get the cheapest way on how to play a game... Steam is only second cheapest, which is kinda already the "new norm," in which we can not yet say its "true price" beyond of what they paid.
Wise comment:
The problem with adjusting for inflation is that most salaries haven't adjusted for inflation.
Haha! Unfortunately yes! This is the worst thing many of the "price is alright-protectors" does not seem to notice! They do not see that the salarys are not keeping up, they dont see that they do not only pay a game with money but as well with "giving away rights".

However, the hardcore protectors of the "digital only lifestyle" may only wake up, from their dream, if someday they realize their bank account is empty and their game account may have become shut down... not any sooner than that.

Sure, new even better PC hardware will be released soon but the price will not go down, forget it! Currently it is as cheap as it can get, because of the hardware-crisis. I guess the 5090 will become the most expensive gamer GPU ever and no one will be paying 2000 for the old "used" 4090.

Subscriptions or simply renewing costs that may never stop, are one of the biggest cost factors in life because it is easy to GET a subscription but due to different reasons difficult to END a subscription. So, in reality this subscription, or simply OBLIGATION, to call it by the most proper word, may over time leech the coins out of every customer who thinks "it was almost for free to them". The cheapest way to play a game is if the customers is at any point in full control of their cost and even better if they even are getting a grip of the hard metal of the most real coins possible because nothing will be spend more sensitive than this. Unless they can kinda splash the coins out of so many holes, we may even lose track of all the digital holes involved. This system is already insane and nearly "out of control"; along with the humans who might not be able to gain sufficient might in order to keep the "upper hand" in this big-digital-casino the world has been turned into.

The very best is to put some real gold coins into someones hand, lets see how "sensitive" they may start to spend it... because this is how humans start to value things and not "devalue" things. Entirely psychological because yes, a human is a highly psychological vulnerable being and not a computer (there might be exceptions, who knows).

But yes, this is Sonys bigger picture and MS is already doing it for a long time.

Yeah, but i am going to attach my 50 inch Plasma and sometime in future a 77 inch OLED after, along with a Marantz 7.1 channel Hifi-Receiver which is adding probably 500 or even more Watt on top of the primary computer hardware... so finally ending at around 750 W on the PS5 Pro and more likely 1000 W on a high end PC... so the difference is not that big anymore, just 25%.

Because i am honestly not going to use a very fast computer with a Walmart-30 inch-green label mini-monitor, paired with some headphones for even more power saving features. No... not going to happen for me, i am sorry to those with serious concerns for "green things". Gaming is a luxury, okay... then lets enjoy this luxury... and if not, it can be completely stopped and you could plant trees somewhere instead (not a bad idea... i am totally in favor!). You could even do both.... gaming like crazy and still plant trees somewhere... this is still better than simply doing NOTHING at all. We humans are not being born as minimalist, in most cases it is simply forced upon us because no other choice or simply to stingy... or as well unable to move a finger because simply to lazy. Anyway, life is to short not to enjoy every fraction of its quality... and to make yourself smaller than you really are.

And if people can not afford it, this is fair enough but then do not bother buying this "digital stuff" because this stuff is over time your moneybags-demise, remember my lesson even if currently beyond of what someone could agree upon!

The very best for wealth is always to own something, so ownership is a critical thing for becoming sufficiently wealthy. I use a car with good sized 3000 ccm engine and yes i can afford it somehow, because it is truly owned and not a leasing or renting-car with way to much obligations able to break down someones shinys way quicker than they are aware of and in fact... it is exactly the thing people do if they lack shinys, which is bad. But in general, i have to say... no matter how much i play and how i play... a car is still more expensive and the most expensive ever a home.

Money does not respect anything other then sheer raw might... only some friendly humans may respect something different, maybe someones heart or spirit.

The process of "giving away control" is exactly the thing money does not enjoy and so... it will leave you. No need to believe me... but i still tried to explain it in a way it could be understood even for humans on a way different path and believe.

So, regarding power use: Either reduce playtime and value those hours even more or... get enough solar cells and play during sunshine...

For a car it is not much different: Create a hydrogen station in your living location (can be used together with neighbours) and use solar cells in order to "recharge" your hydrogen station... this one can then by used to recharge a car... almost free of "the usual cost"... it simply need a huge investment first but this technology is already available. We do not NEED to use oil or foreign electricity... we use it because we are giving our own power out of our hands because of sheer stupidity and because we seem to enjoy being controlled.

Those are all huge and pricy projects, but yes it is realistic. So no need to be "pesudo green"... rather be "real green". Not to make yourself a small dependent thing, being a visionary... even bigger of what Musk is capable of.

Doing so... 1000 W gaming or driving a big engine is realistic, for many of us.
Sometimes in the next year with some luck i may be able to use a even bigger card with a bigger screen and you may not hear the sound of the "digital Vapor" but a real sound from a extremely huge PC, a huge TV and a huge Hifi- with real speakers instead... a real and all penetrating sound of performance and true quality gaming.

Of course, if i turn on the car... someone may as well not hear the digital-power-Vapor attached to its near inaudible "green" engine, but instead sheer harsh and devastating power... beyond any rationality, only here to be real and making someone enjoy life.

To say it in another way: This is nothing more than renting a game and on top of that not every game can become rented. Currently around 450, as far as i can see... and as always lot of trash included, because this is not my personal collection (hey hey... get your dirty fingers of my collection, thanks).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_dNrBb9RIE

Yeah well,,. some more now "official news", this time from IGN. It is clear that IGN will almost entirely say positive stuff regarding this new console version. One wrong word and they will never get a free PS5 Pro sample again and no DLC code for testing out games. So in general, those "expert reviewers" are clearly above average industry-friendly and rather hostile, at least below average, vs. smaller publishers who may not hurt them a lot in case they become upset.

Or in other words, simply the "big mainstream" who is helping out each others for image and popularity.

Obviously i can not say anything regarding IGNs views related to some Sony games that "failed hard" and "how they was reviewing it", else the topic will get a instant-lock. I am not going to blame GoG, they simply have to prevent anything that is going overly hostile toward a certain direction, else it might become problematic. Just, do not get me wrong... i am not a "industry-debunker" nor a "Robin Hood" seeking out to point at the strong or rich, and always try to benefit the weak and poor. The world is not black and white, there are tons of nuances and we do need everyone in the end. I simply give my voice to those who do "great work"; no matter strong, weak, poor or rich.... quality for everyone and innovation is all what counts to me.

Whats really important to me is simply, "How much quality" in every aspect is possible with the resources i and everyone got. Regarding PS5 Pro, this is a good question, yes. There are pros and cons and in the end i still have to sort it out for me if the pros may out weight the cons.

Whats simply clear, as long as console got a disc drive i may still support it, but it will end as soon as it is not the case anymore.

Perhaps i will still get this PS5 Pro but yeah, i got a very ambivalent feeling... hard decision, really. Release is at 7. November it seems. Of course the prices in my country are the highest world wide, but i am used to it... it counts for almost anything. If i am price sensitive... i would have to pass "on living", not gonna work for me, as i am simply constantly at the worst spot here.

So, my general rule is: Simply enjoy life and have fun, and if something may increase the quality, it may be worth it. Whats clear: PS5 Pro is core-gamer only with more than 20 games; for all the others it surely is never worth it (unless they got so much coins left, they barely know where to spend it, may happen to one of 10 000) but those casual-gamers was never the intended customers...

Besides: At least a 4 TB SSD upgrade is actually a pretty fair price to me, actually LOWER than in the US (260 USD for 4 TB Kingstone Fury Renegade, sink is +20 USD), so it is possible to get better prices in rare cases because the entire pricing is nothing more then speculation, no hard rule! The big price bonus is for the PS5 Pro... this is really expensive for me.

And yes, the SSD space is already surpassing 2 TB on my old PS5, so 2 TB is not anymore sufficient for me, on the PS5, unless i have to uninstall games of course, which sucks... this is a typical casual solution, yet bothersome to "core gamers": I was wise enough not to upgrade my old PS5 with 2 TB because i was aware it may not hold up its free space until next gen.