The PS5 Pro has yet to be formally announced, but this hasn’t stopped an online debate about the need for an improved PS5 console. Some commenters, including several TG staff, argue that a PS5 Pro doesn’t make sense, but I’m in the pro camp.
The conversation got underway this week after GamesIndustry.biz editor Christopher Dring appeared on the GI Microdiffusion and claimed that developers had expressed general apathy towards the PS5 Pro at the recent GDC show (via Meter). Dring didn’t name the developers he spoke to, but the comments give us a fascinating glimpse into how industry insiders view the potential merits of a PS5 Pro.
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t meet a single person who understood the point of [PS5 Pro,” explained Dring on the podcast (dated March 26). Dring also claimed that “developers didn’t seem to feel they needed it” because “they weren’t really making the most of the PS5 in the first place.”
Dring surmised the situation by noting that “this generation doesn’t even seem to have got started, let alone needs a mid-generation upgrade.” Which is a fair point. The PS5’s first two years on the market were blighted by stock issues, and even now, four years after release cross-generation titles (games released on PS5 and PS4) are still launching, even if PS5-only releases are now finally becoming the default.
There’s definitely an argument to be made that the base PS5 has enough headroom left for developers to keep pushing technical boundaries over the next three or so years”
There’s definitely an argument to be made that the base PS5 has enough headroom left for developers to keep pushing technical boundaries over the next three or so years, which should take us through until the PS6, which is expected to land in around 2027.
While the above line of reasoning is somewhat compelling, and I’ll admit that Dring’s logic is pretty sound (at least to a point), I still believe there’s space for a PS5 Pro. That’s because modern games are increasingly struggling to perform even on current-generation hardware.
Recurring performance headaches
I’m fortunate enough to get the opportunity to review many of the latest releases for Tom’s Guide, and the single most common criticism I find myself repeating when covering modern games is performance issues.
Inconsistent framerates are such a recurring problem with modern AAA games that even when a game offers a dedicated “performance” mode that aims to boost the framerate, usually at the cost of graphical fidelity, I still don’t expect to have a smooth experience.
Take the current game of the moment, Dragon’s Dogma 2, I’ve spent a few dozen hours with the epic fantasy RPG in recent weeks, and while I’ve been hooked by its dynamic gameplay and unrestricted approach to open-world design, it can’t even hold a stable 30 fps during hectic battles — which are pretty frequent in the hostile world of Dragon’s Dogma.
In fact, the list of games I’ve reviewed in this console generation that haven’t suffered from at least some form of performance issues is significantly smaller than my list of the games that have. From third-party releases like Star Wars: Jedi Survivor to flagship exclusives like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, dropped frames are a common sight in modern gaming.
I believe we’ve reached something of a plateau when it comes to visuals. The likes of Horizon: Forbidden West, Alan Wake 2 and Demon’s Souls are eye-poppingly gorgeous. We don’t really need games that look prettier, but if a PS5 Pro can offer stunning visuals alongside a rock-solid framerate, then it would make a pretty compelling case for itself.
Will PS5 Pro be pro enough?
For me, the real question isn’t whether we need a PS5 Pro, but rather whether the PS5 Pro will offer a big enough technical leap to justify its expected high price tag.
Naturally, that’s a question we cannot definitively answer until the console is actually confirmed (if that does ever happen), but based on the most prominent spec leaks, the early indications are inconclusive.
According to the latest report, the PS5 Pro will pack the same CPU as the current PS5. However, it will include a “High CPU Frequency Mode” that boosts the clock speed from 3.5GHz to 3.8GHz. That’s a mere 10% increase, which isn’t especially encouraging.
While discussing the possibility of GTA 6 running at 60 fps on PS5 Pro, Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter suggested the hugely-anticipated open-world crime game may be limited to just 30 fps even on the much-rumored more powerful PlayStation console.
“I suggest that [GTA 6 at 60 fps] It’s not going to happen. An extra 10 percent over time really won’t do much good. It will help achieve the worst possible frame rates when you are CPU limited, but it won’t be a game changer. I think that’s pretty clear,” Leadbetter said.
While leaked specs for the PS5 Pro suggest it will offer 67 teraflops of computing power, which equates to 33.5 teraflops of “floating point” performance in real-world gaming terms, compared to 10.28 teraflops for the PS5, it’s also worth noting that comparing teraflops is not that simple. Due to changes to AMD’s RNDA architecture (the PS5 Pro’s GPU is reportedly based on the RDNA 3 architecture vs. the PS5’s RDNA 2 GPU), the PS5 may not be a huge leap forward.
Other rumored specs include audio improvements (up to a 35% increase in the console’s Audio Compression Manager), a 45% faster rendering speed, and a big boost to ray tracing performance. The PS5 Pro could also have a frame-enhancing technology called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution. “PSSR” reportedly works like DLSS and AMD’s FSR technology, with the advantage that it should support high dynamic range (HDR) to produce high-resolution games with much more vivid colors than standard SDR.
But even so, the leap forward between the PS5 and PS5 Pro probably won’t be generational; Of course, this isn’t the PS6, so expecting that kind of update would be a bit unreasonable – it should be enough to increase the frame rate. and image resolution, but perhaps only by a narrow margin.
Like the PS4 Pro, which is believed to account for around 20% of total PS4 units sold, I expect the PS5 Pro to be a niche product, aimed primarily at gamers who want every extra ounce of performance power possible.
I definitely fall into that group, so even if the PS5 Pro didn’t let me play the latest games at a locked 60fps, even a small boost in this area would be enough to make me spend my money. Now, if only Sony could announce it, we could finally stop speculating and start discussing its technical merits for real.
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