DF Weekly: PlayStation 5 Pro is incoming

PlayStation’s 30th anniversary celebrations kicked off last week – and in a somewhat unexpected way. Key art on the PlayStation Blog showed a range of Sony hardware old and new in the background and carefully tucked away was a console we hadn’t seen before. Or rather, we had seen it before, but only via a sketch from billbil-kun. This looks to be our first look at PlayStation 5 Pro and now it’s been confirmed that PlayStation lead system architect Mark Cerny has a technical presentation to give tomorrow. This should be our first indication of how Sony aims to position PS5 Pro and to justify its existence.

Documentation leaks from Sony’s developer portal already tell us what to expect from the hardware. The Zen 2 CPU remains unchanged, but has an optional ten percent clock speed boost. The GPU moves from RDNA 2 architecture to RDNA 3, with the base unit’s 36 compute units rising to 60 in the new machine. Without tapping into new features, Sony suggests that PS5 games will run around 45 percent faster on Pro compared to the standard model. However, machine learning silicon rated for 300 TOPs opens the door to PSSR upscaling – which we would hope to match the quality of Intel XeSS and maybe knock on the door of Nvidia DLSS. Ray tracing hardware is also beefed up, while the audio Tempest Engine of the standard PS5 also gains more performance on Pro.

What does this mean for actual games? ML-based upscaling comprehensively bests the software-based solutions on PS5 right now. Games will run at higher resolutions and higher frame-rates, while PSSR improves upscaling quality, giving it a further boost over the existing model. Games with RT effects can run more RT effects while titles without RT features can now run with them. And even if a game has no Pro support at all, an ‘ultra boost’ mode should see that 45 percent of extra GPU power brought to bear. deliveing higher resolutions in games where that is dynamic, and higher frame-rates too. Where we won’t see too much of a difference is in CPU-limited scenarios – of which there are many.

• 0:00:41 News 1: Sony leaks PS5 Pro design
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• 1:05:51 News 5: Bloodborne PC progresses
• 1:14:53 News 6: John’s Windows handheld impressions!
• 1:27:04 Supporter Q1: What should we make of the closure of AnandTech?
• 1:39:09 Supporter Q2: Where will Microsoft be in 15 years?
• 1:46:14 Supporter Q3: Could an RTX 6090 equipped Xbox explain Microsoft’s largest generational leap claims?
• 1:52:44 Supporter Q4: Could Ridge Racer make a return in the near future?
• 1:57:58 Supporter Q5: If Alan Wake 2 isn’t profitable, what hope do other original single player games have?
• 2:03:28 Supporter Q6: Will we really see ray tracing on Switch 2?

However, the question is, how does Sony sell that to the audience? We talk about this in the latest DF Direct and suggest that Mark Cerny has a gift for articulating Sony’s vision for the future of gaming technology and a technical presentation would be a great way to introduce the console. Now it seems almost certain that this is what’s going to happen within 24 hours. However, we’re told the presentation is just nine minutes long – not enough to dive deeply into the decisions made in creating the new console, nor what the hardware is truly capable of.

Justifying a premium machine isn’t a new challenge, of course, and Sony has done it before with PS4 Pro. The emphasis there was on addressing the new features brought about by 4K displays: ultra HD resolution and HDR. However, nobody really cares about 8K screens this time around. Not even me, and I owned a 75-inch LG Nanocell 8K screen for four years before ‘downgrading’ to a 77-inch 4K OLED. Instead, Sony has to sell the advantages of a generally more powerful machine, while at the same time not making the existing machine look unduly poor.

While I’m not sure how Mark Cerny can articulate this in nine minutes, I would expect Sony to more broadly emphasise the successes of the base PlayStation 5 and then to position the PS5 Pro as a more premium experience. Similar to PS4 Pro’s marketing, we’ll be assured that both pieces of hardware are part of the same family running the same games with the same basic features, and that PS5 Pro is essentially the same but better, perhaps with a sprinkling of AI magic.

Beyond the initial Cerny introduction, the games have to do the talking. Laying out the specs of the new machine is one thing, but it’s the way that all of the key components work in tandem that’s key. PS5 Pro is much more than the sum of its parts and perhaps some kind of showcase in the vein of Microsoft’s Developer_Direct would be the best way forward in showing the hardware at its best. Sony certainly has the first-party studio talent to put on an excellent show.

I would expect to see a demonstration of the enhanced ray tracing capabilities compared to existing, shipped games – but perhaps more revelatory will be real world examples of the PSSR upscaling technology. The standard has been set by Nvidia’s DLSS, but the potential here for PS5 Pro is immense. Games can run at higher resolutions than the base PS5, but if PSSR lives up to expectations, even lower resolutions should look better – as mad as that may sound. Looking at the Nixxes port of Horizon Forbidden West, when we compared DLSS 1440p performance mode (internal resolution: 720p) to PS5’s 1800p checkerboard (internal resolution: 1600×1800 effective), DLSS could look better despite operating with just a third of the base resolution.

To a certain degree, machine learning-based upscaling frees up the GPU to do much more than just painting pixels – and it’s this kind of shift from raw hardware to hybrid software/hardware solutions that compensates for the fact that cost-per-transistor in today’s processors isn’t reducing at anything like the same rate as prior generations. What this also means is that the role of machine learning is going to evolve beyond upscaling alone: Sony can repurpose the hardware to do much more in the fullness of time and may indeed have proof of concept demos to show us. Nvidia has blazed the trail here with ray reconstruction and frame generation but Sony may have its own ideas on how to use the new hardware.

However, we cannot ignore the twin elephants in the room: pricing and positioning. Does a Pro PS5 diminish the existing ‘amateur’ model? I don’t think so. Whether it’s smartphones, gaming hardware or just about any other form of consumer electronics, the market is conditioned to the idea of paying more to get more – a description that fits PS5 Pro to a tee. This is not the core product, it’s a premium offshoot for those who want more – and all developers will be aware that they still have to deliver an excellent experience for the vast majority of owners still on the standard machine. For those who want shinier graphics, crisper visuals and smoother frame-rates, the Pro is there for them.

Additionally, we shouldn’t see this launch as anything more than a lower volume console aimed at a niche. I don’t think we should view PS5 Pro as any kind of high-end PC competitor, nor any attempt to expand the reach of PlayStation beyond the existing audience. It’s a machine designed for the more discerning console player with income to spare. For all of its strengths, the chances of the Pro delivering the kind of high frame-rate experiences high-end PC users crave are minimal owing to its lacklustre increases to CPU performance.

It’s a different kind of proposition to a high-end PC, but then again, it’s also in an entirely different price bracket. Judged by enthusiast PC pricing, the Pro will be a steal, but as a console, it’s not going to be cheap. Four years on from launch, the base PlayStation 5 is still expensive at $499/£479 and Sony has commented on the record about the extreme challenges in cost reducing the existing hardware. From this we can infer that PS5 Pro will be at least $100/£100 more expensive – and maybe more than that, depending on the configuration.

Sony may aim to cut some costs by only having a digital model and clawing back money from detachable optical drive sales (I’ve already bought one, just in case – expect them to go out of stock rapidly if a digital-only machine is confirmed) but I’d still expect a disc-less Pro to cost significantly more than a disc-based standard model. Two SKUs? It’s a possibility, but when the PS4 to PS4 Pro ratio was 80:20, we’re dealing with a more niche product where multiple SKUs will be more difficult to justify.

There’s definitely a steep challenge in marketing PlayStation 5 Pro – but I wouldn’t say it’s an insurmountable one. Xbox One X and PS4 Pro proved that the market is there, that a premium model is viable and while there’s no display-related impetus to prompt an upgrade this time, there are certainly enough areas to improve in today’s games that will appeal to that more discerning audience in much the same way. My concern is more about the price point and the extent to which developers are inclined to use all of the new features. Many questions remain then, but at least from tomorrow, we should start to get some answers.