Poll: *The Official PlayStation (PS5/PS5 Pro) Thread*

[rp2000]

Dont really care about the disc drive. I do have the disc based PS5 but never used it. Everything I own is digital, so I'd be wanting the base price of the pro to drop, rather than bundling the disc drive to increase the value.

I think I paid €500 euros in Jan 22. The proposed price in Euros is 799. I'd bite at 649 when GTA6 comes out, or the next insomniac Marvel game, whichever comes 1st.


rp2000

 

[markoboyo11]

I've set my personal price for this at £650 with a drive and a stand. Hopefully have it by March ish time.
Providing pssr is as good as it looks.

 

[Black Dog]

Physical media is all but gone and I can see why they are not selling the console with a drive. It's the future I'm afraid.

But £700.00 is outrageous. Buying an optical drive + PSN subscription will push many people over the edge and lean towards a mid-range PC.

 

[TheVoice]

OK, but before today you had no idea what the cost was going to be - people say over and over again, if it's not from Sony it's not official - so if at 4:00pm you'd got a price of £550 in your head, that was really on you.
They are offering a premium device at a premium cost and people just need to decide what value they can get from that.
Nobody, certainly in this day and age, should make an assumption that everyone has the right to purchase something.

I'm lucky, I have disposable income every month and both the wife and I can feed our hobbies. If I wanted to, I could pre-order this on September 26th.
I'm also under no illusion many would need to save, many would need to credit, many cannot afford - many cannot afford to go and buy a regular PS5.

I'm the target market for the Pro; I've had every PS console, I had the PS4 Pro, I have PSVR2. I also have a (somewhat ageing) gaming PC so I understand gaming hardware costs money and what a difference an upgrade can make. The issue isn't purely down to the price alone and the not-so-humble bragging from some people on here proves they're missing the point; plenty of people don't see £700 worth of improvement in what Sony showed us yesterday. There's clearly still more about its capabilities to be revealed and I am interested in seeing more of what it can do, but so far the reaction from the majority suggests that perhaps gamers feel they're at the point of diminishing returns if it requires this sort of money to see any tangible improvement mid-generation. PSVR2 got eviscerated for being too expensive but at least it was doing something new.

For me, two of the latest PS5 releases form part of my argument against getting a Pro (at least, right now) for two very different reasons; we're getting fewer and fewer exclusives this gen while millions and years are spent on a game that barely lasts two weeks, meanwhile Astro Bot looks and plays like an absolute dream on base hardware already.

 

[TheVoice]

I've set my personal price for this at £650 with a drive and a stand. Hopefully have it by March ish time.
Providing pssr is as good as it looks.

It's unlikely it'll have had any price cut by that time. In any case, don't buy the official stand, the third party ones are visually and functionally identical as far as I can tell at a third of the price.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Physical media is all but gone and I can see why they are not selling the console with a drive. It's the future I'm afraid.

Physical media is still a big thing in the console world. Being able to try or complete a game and then sell it soon after, losing only around 10% of what you paid for it, is a huge bonus.

I can understand why companies want to get rid of it, but consumers shouldn't want to see it go away so quickly.

 

[malachi]

Physical media is all but gone and I can see why they are not selling the console with a drive. It's the future I'm afraid.

Physical media is still big because its cheaper than digital downloads in many countries. Its the US where digital downloads overtakes physical but physical costs more over there depending on the US state.

Many still choose price over convince.

 

[DIABLO]

Physical media is all but gone and I can see why they are not selling the console with a drive. It's the future I'm afraid.

But £700.00 is outrageous. Buying an optical drive + PSN subscription will push many people over the edge and lean towards a mid-range PC.

It's not all but gone on PlayStation. The massive data leak from a 6 months or so back still showed that their first party games still sold more physically than digitally.

The main reason for not selling a version with a included disc drive is that it's cheaper for Sony, not because there is no demand.

 

[Alexrose1uk]

I'm the target market for the Pro; I've had every PS console, I had the PS4 Pro, I have PSVR2. I also have a (somewhat ageing) gaming PC so I understand gaming hardware costs money and what a difference an upgrade can make. The issue isn't purely down to the price alone and the not-so-humble bragging from some people on here proves they're missing the point; plenty of people don't see £700 worth of improvement in what Sony showed us yesterday. There's clearly still more about its capabilities to be revealed and I am interested in seeing more of what it can do, but so far the reaction from the majority suggests that perhaps gamers feel they're at the point of diminishing returns if it requires this sort of money to see any tangible improvement mid-generation. PSVR2 got eviscerated for being too expensive but at least it was doing something new.

For me, two of the latest PS5 releases form part of my argument against getting a Pro (at least, right now) for two very different reasons; we're getting fewer and fewer exclusives this gen while millions and years are spent on a game that barely lasts two weeks, meanwhile Astro Bot looks and plays like an absolute dream on base hardware already.

Agreed, plus they're likely using it as somewhat of a litmus test for what they could charge for a next gen PS6 in a 3-4 years time.

It doesn't feel like what they've offered us is worth the money (double that of a discless PS basically), the lack of an included Optical drive, when many of us still have PS4->PS5 upgrade titles for example, is an even bigger hit to that value. It may be there is more to the story as I said in my post a few pages back, but realistically its a lot of money that they have to justify asking us for, and for many people it doesn't on the surface either feel worth it, or it is plain out of reach for many also. The OG PS5 came out almost 4 years ago, realistically the PS5 itself should be considerably cheaper at this point in time; especially with the cost reductions and material reductions in the current model.

When even your dedicated fanbase who wanted a PS5 Pro when it arrives are looking at this thing and hoo-humming, you've maybe misjudged your target.
If there is a lot more to the story, and they roll around with a PS5 Pro Disc edition for £750, I might consider it.

Again, its not about if we can afford it, its whether it's WORTH it, and right now it doesnt sound like there's enough of an improvement to justify that cost.

 

[Armadillo]

Voted no in the poll.

Main reason for me is I barely use my PS5 as it is, I use it for the odd exclusive like Astrobot and that's about it. I'm mostly playing indie or smaller "AA" games these days and I play those on pc. If I was going to throw £700 around, I'd rather spend it on pc as well, even if it doesn't go as far as I just prefer that ecosystem.

I can see my PS5 being my last console, Sony are clearly trying to move away from physical & they've already killed price competition on digital by disallowing digital game codes (only ones around now are from console bundles). Expensive console, expensive digital games with no competition, paid online & nonsense like blocking last gen controllers because of greed is not enticing.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Just watched this and was going to post. Not a short video and a fair bit of musing from the DF team as per usual. A few points that I'm torn on:

• They understate the impact of 'digital lock-in' when talking about Sony's decision to remove the optical drive. My guess is that there are a significant percentage of PlayStation users who have large digital libraries and that's always going to be a benefit when trying the migrate users to new hardware. The lack or extra cost of an optical drive is not going to be no issue for a lot of the customer base.
• "The lounge PC experience still sucks" (@dark1x / John's words). They make the point that Valve and Microsoft can address this easily. Albeit there is still the advantage of fixed hardware and the synergy this brings. I.e. Valve being able to 'fix' Elden Ring's stuttering problem before From could even address it on PC, or being able to eliminate the shader pre-caching issue on Steam Deck etc.
• And when John talks about the advantage of PC being an open platform and PS5 being closed, he's essentially hinting about piracy. i.e. if a storefront or service closes down. However that same community has also been pushing other platforms/projects too; i.e. being able to revitalise old consoles with new software, MiSTer's brutal development and the recent community's SNES Super FX 3 chip development etc. I feel the bigger issue is the lock-in to the service rather than worrying about the closed nature of it all. I think for archival purposes the community will always pick up the slack.

For me the PS5 Pro is a point to reflect on PlayStation and whether I'm still happy to continue buying into. Whether I buy PS5 Pro or not. Or in other words if I'm not going to remain in the PlayStation ecosystem then I might as well migrate to PC fully sooner. One advantage of owning a console has been I haven't needed such a powerful PC and therefore been able to run a relatively low-end machine (5600X/6650XT) for PC gaming. Which of course has it benefits in terms or costs, initial or running.

As DF noted there is still so much we don't know and until the machine is released a lot of these questions will likely remain unanswered. So I'll have a while to deliberate on the above.

I watched this too this morning, the digital wall garden they put the users in now is huge. Especially if someone like me who doesn't have the top tier PS Plus sub. So not many games really and I buy all big releases Physically whenever possible. Meaning my cost will be £800 should I opt in.

Even if I count my PS Plus games library, which I have a lot with 10 years + of games added to my library. I am not sure if that is worth the entry fee since 99.9999% of those are old games. Games that doesn't take advantage of the new compute power.

So what would someone buy this new console for, it can't be for old games...as much as Sony trying to make us believe by using footage from old games.

 

[markoboyo11]

It's unlikely it'll have had any price cut by that time. In any case, don't buy the official stand, the third party ones are visually and functionally identical as far as I can tell at a third of the price.

Maybe not an official price cut but bundle deals will definitely be out by then I'm pritty confident. Good advice on the stand, didn't know that.

 

[Timber]

I watched this too this morning, the digital wall garden they put the users in now is huge. Especially if someone like me who doesn't have the top tier PS Plus sub. So not many games really and I buy all big releases digitally whenever possible. Meaning my cost will be £800 should I opt in.

So you have a physical collection of PS4/5 games then? In which you're absolutely in that group of annoyed users DF was referring to. I think for me it was more their comment that if you couldn't buy physical games why would you buy a PS5 Pro. Which ignores those users that have large digital PSN libraries already meaning they won't have to re-buy games.

Even if I count my PS Plus games library, which I have a lot with 10 years + of games added to my library. I am not sure if that is worth the entry fee since 99.9999% of those are old games. Games that doesn't take advantage of the new compute power.

So what would someone buy this new console for, it can't be for old games...as much as Sony trying to make us believe by using footage from old games.

It's the same audience as the PS4 Pro, just a less compelling and much more expensive offering. Sony first-party games are going to look great on this machine, perhaps even at their best. And maybe some third-party games too like the new Assassin's Creed etc. Maybe (big if here) even do some fancy stuff with the old PS4 games similar to the stellar work Microsoft did with the backwards compatibility program.

As you say it's a tough sell but some people are going to buy into those features, particularly the already invested in the PS ecosystem.

 

[Vinno]

The price of this based on what we have seen so far is outrageous.

But I have to say it again - what we've seen so far. I can't believe they honestly thought that revealing the price after those few tiny snippets of game play was going to go down well lol.

I have no doubt that we'll get a State of Play before the pre-orders go live which will go into a lot more detail regarding specs and what exactly this thing can do. Until then I'm the fence.

 

[Raymond Lin]

So you have a physical collection of PS4/5 games then? In which you're absolutely in that group of annoyed users DF was referring to. I think for me it was more their comment that if you couldn't buy physical games why would you buy a PS5 Pro. Which ignores those users that have large digital PSN libraries already meaning they won't have to re-buy games.



It's the same audience as the PS4 Pro, just a less compelling and much more expensive offering. Sony first-party games are going to look great on this machine, perhaps even at their best. And maybe some third-party games too like the new Assassin's Creed etc. Maybe (big if here) even do some fancy stuff with the old PS4 games similar to the stellar work Microsoft did with the backwards compatibility program.

As you say it's a tough sell but some people are going to buy into those features, particularly the already invested in the PS ecosystem.

Correction, I meant to say i buy my games physically....whenever possible, not sure why I said digitally....

I only buy digital games if they are on huge discount, or Steam Deck. I look at each game and make a judgement.

Elden Ring - I got that on the PS5 over Xbox Series X and Steam.
Baldur's Gate - I bought it on Steam. It might not look best on there but more future proof and I can play it on my Mac eventually with mouse and keyboard.
Nintendo games I buy physically for 1st party, so all Zelda, Mario etc. I did get Overcooked digitally because it was only a few quid.

As I have GPU on Xbox I don't buy that many games.

 

[Kainz]

All these people saying i am not going to buy one this won't last lets admit it.

I’ve never seen a thread move so fast. It just shows that folks will do exactly what publishers and Sony typically and predictably do - change their minds the moment the new shiny is out.

So it’s expensive, so it’s not required - ok move on lol.

 

[McManicMan]

Sorry, Had to be done,

 

[peahead]

He is not happy

 

[Timber]

Correction, I meant to say i buy my games physically....

Ah OK. You did confuse me with that one, I was hang on that doesn't make sense

 

[Purgatory]

You seem to be forgetting in your wall of text that this not a new generation, but an enthusiast model. It's not intended to sell anything like the base model; the PS4 Pro only ever reached a market share of 15%.

It was actually 1 in 5 so 20%. This will not sell even as well as that and that didn't really sell well. Just check the kickback this has had from the enthusiasts that buy these devices and all the current comments from review sites regarding the silly price. Sony's loss really and they will have to bring the price down if they ever plan to sell it after the first few people that will pay that silly price.