Another expected benefit is the increased memory bandwidth meaning faster loading games but also open world games like Spider-Man 2 being able to load more parts of the map all at once, meaning, bigger, larger horizon views and more aspects of the world acting all at once. And to be fair, these do seem pretty good improvements to the existing PS5, but in the same way buying an iPhone 16 will be an improvement over the iPhone 15: a few improvements will be there in certain scenarios, but 90% of the experience probably isn’t worth paying full price. Simply put, the PS5 Pro doesn’t seem like a worthwhile upgrade from the PS5 in the same way the PS4 Pro didn’t warrant an upgrade from the regular PS4. So why is Sony pushing it to begin with?

PlayStation as a business isn’t in the best spot.

It turns out, despite being the highest selling console on the market, the PS5 isn’t selling as well as it should right now. In April, Sony themselves reported this, noting how the PS5 is actually falling short of the Ps4s sales numbers. On top of that, it turns out almost half of the PlayStation user base is actually still using the PS4 as their main console. And haven’t bothered to upgrade. Which would seem odd, but if you look at the gaming market in 2024 , it’s not that surprising. Most of the biggest games in the world are still on the PS4, including a lot of Sony’s own exclusives. Everything from Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Forbidden West, and even God of War Ragnarok are on the platform with extended support just like the PS5, and that’s without counting the likes of Call of Duty, FIFA/EAFC, NBA and so on which also call the PS4 home. And yes more games are becoming PS5 only like Tekken 8. But for every move like that a competitor like Street Fighter 6 releases on the PS4 to boost sales. And this is to say nothing of online live service games like Fortnite and Destiny, which find more incentive to support the older console as it gives them more players. Simply put, the PS4 did too good of a job at staying relevant, to the point where Sony themselves have issues killing it, and that just keeps PS4 owners from feeling the need to upgrade, especially when PS5 exclusives end up on the PC as well. So Sony is doing the one thing that they think can give PS sales a boost again, which is a shiny, new PlayStation console. Even if it might not actually do much differently for most people. And again, the PS5 Pro likely will be the best way to play games like GTA VI when they come out in the next year or so, and Sony will likely reveal a game or two that specifically takes advantage of its new upgrades. But that will again be under certain conditions with perhaps a certain TV set even, which gets worse when we realize one other key thing.

Most developers can’t even take full advantage of the existing PS5 and Xbox Consoles.

Perhaps the biggest thing that hinders the PS5 Pro, however, is that very few next-gen games that have been created for it or the Xbox Series consoles actually feel like they are next-generation, ground-breaking games that raise the bar for gaming technology. Don’t get me wrong, the likes of Spider-Man 2, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and even Returnal’s impressive physics are ground-breaking in their own right. But could you look at something like Helldivers 2, Sony’s biggest game this year, and assume it can’t completely run on a PS4? And it’s not the only case. Even EA’s Star Wars Jedi Survivor, originally a next gen title, is now being back-ported to the PS4 again. And that’s because while a lot of these games are preferably made with the newer consoles in mid, a lot of them don’t actually push their limits enough to warrant being exclusives, and could likely run on older consoles with some tinkering. So if developers aren’t actually fully utilising the power of the base PS5, or more accurately, haven’t optimised their games to fully utilize it, should we really expect they truly take advantage of the new, more powerful version of it? Especially if those games are supposed to run on the older version of the PS5 as well.

Pro versions of consoles aren’t really the “in thing” right now.

The last aspect that makes me think the PS5 Pro is something only Sony needs and no one else however, is the fact that when it comes down to it, pro versions of consoles aren’t exactly the thing the market is craving right now. 2024 is a very different time from 2016 and 2017 when a palpable craving for utilising 4K TVs was there and the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro took advantage of that. 2024 however, is a year where the biggest games on the planet can even be run on a phone (Fortnite), while the biggest console exclusives either get ported to an older console(Horizon Forbidden West) , or PC(Helldivers 2), or even the rival console in the case of Xbox and it’s games. Making a console that doubles down on the need for exclusivity almost goes against all these trends, feeling like a move from the PS3 era, especially when the current consoles haven’t reached their full potential. This is probably why at its summer game fest showcase, Xbox opted to bring up more buying options for its existing consoles, doubling the storage on the Series X and S, along with introducing cheaper, disc-less versions as well. But none of these are “Pro” versions of the consoles, and make more sense to a price-conscious buyer. Simply put, “Pro” consoles are out of style.

Instead, the clear trend in gaming right now is portability. Not with Xbox’s game streaming offering (though that’s also cool), but rather the rise of Gaming handheld like the Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally and more. Basically we’ve figured out how to make all PS4 generation games run in machines that fit in our hands, including the iPhone 15 Pro! And yet somehow Sony is skipping all that and instead making things like the Playstation Portal, which no, is not a new PSP, but actually a controller with a screen on it. That’s all. And Sony wants you buying that, and likely a bigger , heavier PS5 Pro to keep in your home in a generation that’s getting more used to carrying their favorite games with them on the go. It arguably shows Sony at their most out of touch when it comes to their gamer audience, but perhaps they know something we don’t.

Either way, it’s pretty clear to see that the PS5 Pro is definitely more one of those cases where a manufacturer will try and tell you need something even when you don’t. And I understand while writing this the hypocritical nature of the word “need” in this case. Most of us probably don’t NEED a game console. If this was based on need, we all would be using PS4s and never need an upgrade again. But of course that’s not the case, and to be fair, I’m sure a lot of people are going to buy a PS5 Pro and love it. In fact, I’ll go on to say that if you don’t have a PS5 already, why not get the best version available?! But even with all that said, this definitely feels like one of those moments where Sony is going off on a tangent that doesn’t really speak to what most of its customers seem to want. Again, maybe we’ll be proven wrong. But until then, I’m definitely convinced the PS5 Pro will help no one besides Sony themselves.

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