PlayStation announces PS5 Pro, as well as price and date
During a nine minute stream, Sony’s Mark Cerny revealed the existence of the PlayStation 5 Pro, and what it’s all about.
It has been a rumour for quite some time, but the blog post from Sid Shuman (Senior Director, Sony Interactive Entertainment Content Communications) on the 9th of September revealed a “PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation hosted by Mark Cerny”, which isn’t quite saying what most people assumed it’d say outright.
The blog said: “Join us for a streamed presentation hosted by Mark Cerny, Lead Architect of the PS5 console. The 9-minute Technical Presentation will focus on PS5 and innovations in gaming technology.”. A trailer leading up to the stream simply said “The journey continues”.
You can rewatch the stream, below:
The big one then: the PS5 Pro will cost £699 ($699.99) and is coming on November 7th, 2024. The “vertical stand” is sold separately. The console will include a 2TB SSD and a copy of Astro’s Playroom.
Cerny explained that he’d heard about developers’ desire for more options and listed the three pillars of improvement as follows:
- Upgraded GPU: With PS5 Pro, we are upgrading to a GPU that has 67% more Compute Units than the current PS5 console and 28% faster memory. Overall, this enables up to 45% faster rendering for gameplay, making the experience much smoother.
- Advanced Ray Tracing: We’ve added even more powerful ray tracing that provides more dynamic reflection and refraction of light. This allows the rays to be cast at double, and at times triple, the speeds of the current PS5 console.
- AI-Driven Upscaling: We’re also introducing PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, an AI-driven upscaling that uses a machine learning-based technology to provide super sharp image clarity by adding an extraordinary amount of detail.
Taken from the PS Blog:
Other enhancements include PS5 Pro Game Boost, which can apply to more than 8,500 backward compatible PS4 games playable on PS5 Pro. This feature may stabilize or improve the performance of supported PS4 and PS5 games. Enhanced Image Quality for PS4 games is also available to improve the resolution on select PS4 games. PS5 Pro will also launch with the latest wireless technology, Wi-Fi 7, in territories supporting this standard. VRR and 8K gaming are also supported.
It’s humbling to see how game creators have embraced the latest technology from PS5 Pro, and several games will be patched with free software updates for gamers to take advantage of PS5 Pro’s features. These games can be identified with a PS5 Pro Enhanced label within their title. Some games you can look forward to include blockbuster hits from PlayStation Studios and our third-party partners, such as Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, Demon’s Souls, Dragon’s Dogma 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Gran Turismo 7, Hogwarts Legacy, Horizon Forbidden West, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, The Crew Motorfest, The First Descendant, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, and more.
It looks as though new and existing titles are getting support. The Last of Us Part 2 was shown running on PS5 Pro, the fidelity-like graphics but with the performance mode frame-rates.
The PS5 Pro offers “sharper” and “crisper” graphics, says Cerny, with examples for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 shown. “Increased sharpness” and “smoother, and more responsive” are the main key points, it seems.
Cerny said ““It’s the most powerful console we’ve ever built”, and also explained how a game like Horizon Forbidden West can get improved lighting effects thanks to the power of the PS5 Pro. Ray Tracing was also a big deal, with Gran Turismo 7 making use of that while maintaining the frame rate.
PS5 Pro is launching on November 7th with pre-orders starting September 26th, 2024.
