- what could we potentially look forward to with the Pro?
• not having to choose between fidelity and performance modes, we can get the best of both worlds
• higher res and better graphics on PSVR2
• Improved ray tracing on games. For example we could get RT in the actual races on GT7. Maybe even in the VR mode
• more stable frame rates for those games hitting 60 and 120 fps at higher graphical settings
Thats the thing, they dont do it plenty. What else, DS Remake, Ratchet n Clank....what else? There is so much more juice left in the OG PS5.
Both of these can be true. There is a ton of juice left in the PS5 but there are 2 aspects to a gaming system to consider when talking the need for a "Pro":
- The artistic "canvas" that the platform provides for developers. This is essentially what the system can enable artists and designers to do. In this respect, there is a ton of unexplored potential in the PS5. How can you expand on existing genres from a gameplay and design perspective and how can you create new gameplay experiences. For artists, what kind of assets can you create using new tools for meshes, textures, materials, lighting etc. This isn't really a HW issue. This is more on the humans making the content and development tools. Case in point, Nintendo has consistently found new and innovative ways to expand on their existing gameplay experiences with each new generation on "low end" HW (e.g. Zelda BOTW). To this point, there isn't a need for new HW to get fresh gaming experiences that we wouldn't have seen on earlier generations and PS5 still can provide a lot for developers to utilize (this is where Sony's first party shines and hopefully we'll start seeing their output in the next year or two).
- The technical performance capabilities of the system. Yes you can come up with the best gaming design and vision you want, but the system needs to run it to a certain spec. This area is one that is never ending for any gaming hardware (including PC). The bottom line is that while the PS5 runs games extremely well for the most part across the board (better than nearly any previous PS generation as I've pointed out multiple times), it's not maxing out the performance envelope for what is possible today. In fact, it never will and the PRO won't either (a 4090 won't either BTW). Every game CAN'T run optimally at native 4K/120 no matter what HW spec you have. There is a software component to that and the software is limited again by the human beings and development resources available. So is there room to push PS5 games further in terms of just raw acceleration of performance? Absolutely, particularly in the areas that the PRO is focusing on: IQ and Ray Tracing. This is the age old model that the PC has been using for 40 years now. Pop in a new GPU to get more pixels and faster framerates given the same workload. Yes, some enthusiast folks really care about the sort of thing
Here is the thing: the audience matters. Most console players are not tech enthusiasts and don't care about pixel and frametime analysis on their games. They don't know or care about ray tracing either and if you told them that they shouldn't like FFXVI because it
only runs at 30fps in it's fidelity mode and the 60fps mode drops resolution too low, they'll look at you like you're stupid (trust me I've seen it). However, they can appreciate item#1 above and if they don't like FFXVI it's going to be for some of the design and gameplay choices and not the internal resolution before upscaling
. For the record, most PC gamers don't care about that either. The enthusiastc tech crowd (rampant in this forum) are a small minority of the gaming population. To tens of millions of PS5 users, the power and performance of the base PS5 is more than adequate today.
So it's about keeping perspective. The PS5 Pro is beneficial to a subset of the PS5 gamer base that want the best performance possible out of the creative visions realized by devs but it's absolutely not "
necessary"! How do I know? Just look at the list of the most played games on any platform (console or PC) and tell me how many are pushing a base PS5 level of HW to it's limits? Guaranteed that list doesn't include Hellblade II, Avatatar FOP, Dragon's Dogma II, Alan Wake 2, or Cyberpunk w/Path Tracing. I have never heard of anyone saying they needed to upgrade their HW to play Roblox, Fortnite, LOL, CS2, GTAV, COD Warzone, or DOTA. In fact, have you seen the top 10 most played games on PS5 for June 2024 (what year is it BTW)? Raise your hand if you think any of those are pushing the PS5 to it's limits?
