The PlayStation 5 Pro’s high price is likely a test of customers’ tolerance for highly-priced gaming hardware, and the related bad press cycle could be part of Sony’s bigger strategy for the future.
Speaking during the latest episode of Moore’s Law is Dead Broken Silicon podcast, Massive Damage Studios art director Bryan Meemskerk made some interesting observations about the upcoming system. According to the developer, Sony made a lot of good hardware decisions for its current generation mid-generation refresh, with one exception: the lack of a disc drive. While this sounds like a tone-deaf decision, considering the system is aimed at a hardcore audience, the same audience that mostly buys physical games, the lack of a disc drive is as much of a test as the high price is. As the attachable disc drive is essentially sold out almost everywhere, now Sony knows that there’s demand for this type of accessory and may release a discless PlayStation 6 compatible with the PS5’s attachable disc drive.
The most important test, however, remains the PlayStation 5 Pro’s high price. Bryan Meemskerk noted how Sony likely saw what NVIDIA and Apple did in recent times and attempted to follow suit. In the case of NVIDIA, the company did not suffer any major consequences from a cycle of bad press caused by the high price of some of its top-of-the-line products. On the contrary, Meemskerk pointed out that consumers tend to forgive when the price of next-generation hardware is slightly lower than that of the previous generation, making the negative press cycle over an expensive halo product ultimately inconsequential and possibly worthwhile. Also, the high cost of the PlayStation 5 Pro could make the base console more appealing due to its lower price.
While the PlayStation 5 Pro’s price is undoubtedly high for a gaming console, the system offers plenty of improvements over the base system that will allow for smooth 60 FPS at 4K resolution. As highlighted by an early analysis shared online yesterday, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be among the existing PS5 games that will benefit the most from the system’s better specs.
