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[LectureMaster]

Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social)

PS5 Pro has fallen behind PS4 Pro's pace. Digital SKUs accounted for 49% of PS5 HW units in Jan and 88% of XBS units.

bsky.app

Sony's Pricey PS5 Pro Is Now Being Outpaced by PS4 Pro Launch Aligned in the US

Sticker shock

www.pushsquare.com

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Sony’s mid-gen hardware upgrade PS5 Pro enjoyed a similar start to its predecessor PS4 Pro in the United States, but now it’s started to fall behind.

That’s according to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, who was speaking as part of the January 2025 sales results, which saw the industry slump to a 15% year-over-year decline. It should be noted that the tracking period this year consisted of just four weeks, compared to the five weeks in 2024, which helps explain some of the drop-off.

On the subject of the PS5 Pro, he said that it’s “fallen behind” the PS4 Pro’s pace launch aligned. It’s always worth remembering of course that the PS4 Pro debuted at $399.99 compared to the PS5 Pro’s eye-watering $699.99. Even taking into account inflation, that’s a gigantic difference.

Still, it’s likely a situation Sony expected. The manufacturer enjoyed a record-breaking quarter in its latest financial report, and PS5 shipments have surpassed 75 million. Those are impressive numbers, especially when you consider that the firm is clearly putting profits ahead of raw sales these days.

While we don’t expect the PS5 Pro to ever sell as well as its predecessor, we imagine it’ll get small boosts around key software releases. Monster Hunter Wilds, for example, should give it a bump later this month, and we’ll likely see similar increases around tentpole launches like Ghost of Yotei and, crucially, Grand Theft Auto 6.

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[Danny Dudekisser]

It’s an overpriced piece of shit. And I lost the fan lottery, so I’m extra bitter. An absolute joke of a product.

 

[Fabieter]

It’s an overpriced piece of shit. And I lost the fan lottery, so I’m extra bitter. An absolute joke of a product.

Yea its definitely overpriced as fuck. 599 with a drive should have been the top end. But they like to nickel and dime their fanbase tho.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Console sales are dipping overall.

 

[rickybooby87]

Seems plausible, but 4 weeks vs 5 weeks as mentioned would explain it somewhat, it did have a super strong start though, in Japan of all places. Once GTA6 drops, I except these things to start moving.

 

[Miles708]

This thing makes 0 sense anyway

 

[LectureMaster]

 

[Gen.Grievous]

In unit sales or in revenue? Because Sony probably cares a lot more about the latter.

 

[MALpractice311]

I bought the PS4 Pro, not on launch date specifically, but within the first two months of its release due to obvious benefits of Boost Mode for unsupported games and the multiple Pro patches. Sony really sold me on that console and I don't regret it all.

The PS5 Pro however still has yet to justify its price tag (plus the disc drive as I have a large physical collection of PS4 and PS5 games), to me. If every game was a guaranteed 4k60fps, then maybe, but it seems like the Pro patches have been all over the place and this obsession with ray tracing is yet again holding back resolutions and framerates.

 

[sono]

I am reading but don't see numbers what are they

 

[Portugeezer]

And yet games will have problems and devs will use the Pro like it's a fix for shit optimisation, same way VRR dogshit is talked about.

 

[Kupfer]

At its core, it’s a good console that is certainly powerful enough for simple and practical home use.

However, with the high price and the lack of a disc drive in the standard retail version of the PS5 Pro, Sony is shifting the balance between what we’re used to and the future they envision. The Pro, the missing disc drive in the normal retail version, the lack of available drives - it's all a push toward the digital future that Sony (and all other manufacturers) are so eager to bring about. More revenue, fewer consumer rights, greater dependency on the manufacturer. From a business perspective, these are certainly understandable steps, but as a customer, I refuse to go along with it.

Apparently, many gamers seem to be put off by the price or Sony’s approach, causing sales of the Pro to slow down after an initially successful launch.

Personally, I hope this trend continues and Sony realizes that customers won’t just accept everything - but to be honest, I doubt it.

 

[ManaByte]

And I lost the fan lottery

What does this mean? Can the fan stop working?

 

[Lunarorbit]

The disc drive situation is crazy. Artificial scarcity? Seems like it to me. Force everyone on to only digital.

 

[Shifty1897]

I know people have issues with it but I've been enjoying mine a lot, it got me to actually start playing my PS5 backlog.

Also the disc drive is back in stock everywhere and has been since Christmas, I think Sony really was stupid enough to not think about needing more of these instead of an artificial scarcity situation.

 

[Synastry]

PS4 Pro made sense and it launch at $399 the same price as the OG PS4.

PS5 Pro on the other hand its almost $300 More then the OG and no games right now make it a must have.

I'm happy with my but I wished I didn't pay $763 for one.

Either way its a optional more Powerful PS5 for those that want the option Sony isn't forcing anyone to buy One.

 

[Fake]

With that stupid price no wonder why.

 

[Xtib81]

I mean, it's almost twice the price.. and once again, Sony is doing a terrible job at communicating and supporting this console.

 

[Evolved1]

people don't have money for things like this. it's pretty simple.

 

[Horseganador]

It has already been discussed in the Circana thread, there is no need to create another thread just because it is a negative metric for PS.

 

[PanzerCute]

930€ for a full console.

Hope it fails.

 

[lh032]

i love my pro, i hope sony continue to do this, for next gen
but yea price could be 100 dollar less

 

[Sooner]

LectureMaster "gotta find something that sounds bad for PS5 sales"

This whole thread seems to reek of someone scouring the Internet to find any metric that sounds bad for PlayStation in order to create a bait thread and then respond to your own thread with gifs like that.

 

[Pedro Motta]

It will still sell more than 8 Million and Banjo64 will drink a truck load of cum, for us to enjoy.

 

[TheRedRiders]

I own a PS5 Pro and I’m happy with it for the most part, but this will vary on person to person. I’m really looking forward to Death Stranding 2, MGS and GTA 6 - so it’ll be fun playing those on the Pro.

Regardless, it’s definitely pricier than usual, and I do get second thoughts sometimes. As usual the consumers will vote with their wallets.

 

[ryzen1]

Yeah Sony. Fuck you, not paying 750€ for the Pro.

 

[GoldenEye98]

This thing was never going to sell the same amount as PS4 Pro given the price.

 

[RafterXL]

Doesn't surprise me. Sony completely shit the bed with the launch. The price is obnoxiously expensive, and the drive has been almost impossible to find. On top of that the Pro patches have been hit or miss with many being underwhelming or many taking multiple patches to fix. Sony should have worked with developers and had this stuff ready to go for launch. The fact they didn't caused a lot of negative publicity.

I bought it, because I buy almost all of this stuff, but I haven't used it since the week it came out. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that it's struggling to keep selling.

 

[Maddoxswe]

You and Phil’s balls are really trying

 

[Banjo64]

It will still sell more than 8 Million and Banjo64 will drink a truck load of cum, for us to enjoy.

They are practically giving these things away in boxes of cereal.

Sony desperate to make me chug cum.

 

[K' Dash]

As owner of one, it is a fucking scam, not only in power, but price too, this shit shouldn’t cost more than $400 and Sony sells them for double that.

Fuck Sony.

 

[Fabieter]

I know people have issues with it but I've been enjoying mine a lot, it got me to actually start playing my PS5 backlog.

Also the disc drive is back in stock everywhere and has been since Christmas, I think Sony really was stupid enough to not think about needing more of these instead of an artificial scarcity situation.

You cant be this stupid.

 

[ToadMan]

I would normally be the target demographic for this probably but I haven't dipped in yet. I actively want to buy a second PS5 to save me toting one around the world for work stuff.

But, I haven't seen enough to justify it and instead I've been PC-ing it with a gaming laptop for travel and leaving the PS5 at home. I bring the Switch but that barely gets booted either these days.

Bizarrely enough something from MS may be the thing that tempts me to get a PS5 Pro - that or a discount / drive bundle or something.

Grinding it out until GTA is an option too I guess, but at that time Switch 2 is in the mix maybe. There's so much uncertainty right now with games and console release dates, and I don't want to jump on something unless I'm sure it fits. Too much stuff sitting around at home going unused as it is.

Which is all to say there is a lost Pro sale - if Sony haven't found a way to make me want one, then there is a problem, since I'm an easy mark for them right now...

 

[SimTourist]

The age of $399 consoles is over for good, I wouldn't expect the base PS6 to be any cheaper than the pro

 

[LordOcidax]

In unit sales or in revenue? Because Sony probably cares a lot more about the latter.

Was below in units since the first month, this is about revenue.

 

[adamsapple]

 

[Scrawnton]

The age of $399 consoles is over for good, I wouldn't expect the base PS6 to be any cheaper than the pro

Sony can try and the market will speak.

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Don't know if this means anything but, here in Spaghetti-land, the Pro can be found for as low as 700-715 Eurodollars new.

Maybe they (Sony) overestimated its potential sales and shops are now lowering the price as to clear out their stock ? Fuck knows.

Anyway : I too feel somewhat scammed/disappointed by the Pro since I'm not really seeing the benefits, the games that got patched that are really nice/look better are few (Stellar blade etc) and as for the unpatched ones, the console isn't powerful enough as to power through their technical problems/bad framerate - FF16 still doesn't run at 60fps in the open world, Space Marine 2 (before it got patched) ran - pretty much - like the XSX version (around the 50-55fps mark) etc etc.
Meanwhile, games like AW2, Wukong, Silent Hill 2 and others still look and perform mediocre even after their patches, and in the case of SH2, Bloober team has been radio silent for 3 months now.

Maybe us owners we'll be reaping the benefits with newer, "heavier" future games which will be taking the Pro specs in mind during development but so far, not only I'm not blown away but...the exact opposite.

For me, the PS4 Pro was a much bigger jump in performance since you could actually play games at a higher/unlocked framerate compared to the base PS4.

 

[kruis]

In unit sales or in revenue? Because Sony probably cares a lot more about the latter.

Sony doesn't care about revenues but about profits. Soaring revenues don't mean anything if consoles are sold at cost or even below costs. The PS5 Pro may be more profitable than the PS4 Pro if the markup with each console sold is higher.

 

[Fake]

Not only PS5pro is expensive, but PSSR is like an experimental project, putting consumers into some sort of beta stage.

Maybe PSSR will shiny on base PS6, but for now is a mix bag project.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I watched the DF on astro bot and thought. Holy fuck if I'd bought this thing I'd be screwing.

Everyone knows I think the box is a joke for the pro tag line and it's good to see the general public seems to agree.

 

[SJRB]

People probably need a reason to actually fork over the 800 euros to buy a PS5 Pro and so far Sony has barely provided any...

 

[Punished Miku]

the console isn't powerful enough as to power through their technical problems/bad framerate - FF16 still doesn't run at 60fps in the open world, Space Marine 2 (before it got patched) ran - pretty much - like the XSX version (around the 50-55fps mark) etc etc.

Typically I wouldn't expect anything to power through unpatched problems without a 2 gen gap. My typical reference point is unpatched 360 games running much better on a Series console 2 gens later.

 

[Skifi28]

I'm personally pretty happy with mine, but the average user probably doesn't need one.

 

[SweetTooth]

Whatever PRO sales falls off in the US will be picked up somewhere worldwide.

 

[skyfinch]

Sales will pick up once Xbox announces a South of Midnight port.

 

[SweetTooth]

I watched the DF on astro bot and thought. Holy fuck if I'd bought this thing I'd be screwing.

Everyone knows I think the box is a joke for the pro tag line and it's good to see the general public seems to agree.

If that's how you felt seeing the most powerful console on display, I cannot for the life of me see how you felt investing in Xbox ecosystem lol

PRO also ran Calisto at 6K with RT? How did you feel seeing that DF video? It also ran F1 at 8K/60 how did you feel? Yeah I know you wouldn't state you feelings here lol

 

[DryvBy]

Console sales are dipping overall.

Barely unless you're talking Xbox, and we have some ridiculous inflation worldwide we're fighting. Buy eggs and milk at $699 or a PS5 Pro? Take your pick.

But I can't wait to see the next "console sales are dipping" when Switch 2 launches.

 

[ValiantInstance]

I'm glad I got the 30th Anniversary PS5 instead of this. Very few games will take meaningful advantage of it, and it depends entirely whether the game is CPU heavy or not.

 

[Unknown?]

It's amazing that it was ever ahead due to the pricing.