Sony announces the PS5 Pro

Sony has officially unveiled the PlayStation 5 Pro, a more powerful iteration of its current gaming console, which will be released on November 7th, 2024, priced at $699.99. The announcement follows months of speculation and leaks, culminating in a technical presentation led by Mark Cerny, the console’s lead architect. The PS5 Pro is expected to offer significant improvements in terms of performance, driven by a larger GPU, enhanced ray tracing capabilities, and a custom AI-driven upscaling system.
Cerny highlighted three primary areas of improvement over the standard PS5: faster rendering, improved visual fidelity, and enhanced frame rates. “It’s the most powerful console we’ve ever built,” Cerny stated, adding that the hardware upgrades should result in 45% faster rendering and allow for smoother gameplay without compromising on graphics. The PS5 Pro aims to eliminate the common trade-off between performance and visual fidelity, which currently sees about three-quarters of players opting for performance modes.
The console will feature a 67% increase in compute units and 28% faster memory than the original PS5, promising smoother and more detailed gaming experiences. These improvements are expected to significantly benefit titles that make use of ray tracing technology, with Sony suggesting that developers will be able to double or even triple the speed at which rays are cast in games.
Additionally, the PS5 Pro will include PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), a new AI-powered upscaling technique similar to Nvidia’s DLSS or AMD’s FSR, designed to enhance frame rates and image quality in PlayStation games. This technology was demonstrated in titles such as The Last of Us Part II, which ran at a smoother 60fps on the PS5 Pro compared to its 30fps fidelity mode on the standard PS5. Other games set to take advantage of these enhancements include Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
One of the key new features of the PS5 Pro is its backward compatibility mode, referred to as Game Boost. According to Hideaki Nishino, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s platform business group, this feature will apply to over 8,500 backward-compatible PS4 games, improving performance and resolution in select titles.
Other notable upgrades include Wi-Fi 7 support, 8K resolution compatibility, VRR (variable refresh rate), and a larger 2TB solid-state drive. The PS5 Pro will also come equipped with additional USB-C ports and maintain an expansion slot for further SSD upgrades. The console will be compatible with the PlayStation VR2 headset, the PlayStation Portal handheld, and existing PS5 controllers.
Games will require patches to fully utilise the PS5 Pro’s enhanced capabilities. Sony plans to release 50 PS5 Pro Enhanced games by launch, including popular titles such as Gran Turismo 7, Hogwarts Legacy, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and The Last of Us Part II Remastered. Pre-orders for the console will begin on September 26th.