According to Tom Henderson (who has a decent track record with leaks), due to the continuing demand for the PlayStation 5, any sort of hardware refresh seems unlikely. In fact, the only real new hardware you’ll get surrounding your console is the PSVR 2. But while I know a lot of you may be disappointed by this news, I think it’s a good thing. Let me provide some context.
What’s the scoop?
During the last generation of consoles, both Sony and Microsoft launched mid-generation refreshes of their consoles. The expectation has been that we get a PS5 Pro too, but will we? Recent insider rumors suggest that’s not the case. Since demand remains strong for the current PlayStation, and as Tom said, the console won’t be “on mass until the end of the year,” the claim is that PS6 is the primary focus for now rather than a spec bump to the pre-existing PS5. Instead, the only updates you can expect from this fifth generation console are minor tweaks to drive down production costs and (hopefully) provide some discounts to the price sooner or later.
Outlook — Why is it a good thing?
I know this is a hard position to defend — given how much others loved the PS4 Pro. We’re in a very different situation here. The timelines match up (roughly three years after launch), but by 2016, the PS4 was already aching under the pressure of certain games. 4K TVs were rapidly growing in popularity and Sony needed something to capitalize on this shift. PS5 is an already powerful console, and developers haven’t hit the full extent of its capabilities. The shift to 8K is not happening anytime soon, alongside the fact that availability of this console has been a huge problem over the past couple of years. Not that Sony hasn’t already sold loads of them (the company announced it sold 30 million units during its CES 2023 show), but demand has far outstripped supply, so what’s the point of a Pro model? As a console gamer, I’ve cared more about the games and experiences rather than the specs inside the box. I believe other people feel the same too, and a shift to working early and hard on the next generation of PlayStation is a far more logical thing to do. Though it is worth noting that anything on the rumor mill like this should be taken with a grain of salt. It could all be wrong and we may end up with a PS5 Pro anyway, but it’s fun to speculate!
