Tech Experts Reckon PS5 Pro Could Help Pave the Way to PS6

Of course it is, it will allow them to test and develop PSSR and new tech, ready to implement into PS6.

Wonder what innovation do they bring to PS6....

It also allows them to set the price for the ps6 to be higher or the same. If the pro sells well then the price point has been proven. With a distinct possibility the next gen Xbox will be less power than the ps6, they can charge the ps5 pro sort of prices

Pave the way to higher pricing?

It took tech experts to figure this out?

@Neither_scene @Blofse Terrifying thought that’s probably destined for reality. What a way to price so many people out of the market!

They're paving the way for egregious pricing next generation, I've no proof but no doubt either, PS6 will be $699/€799 with no disc drive AT THE VERY LEAST.

If Microsoft keeps f**ing up and by next generation they become irrelevant you can add another $200 to this price.

@Northern_munkey “Much like practicing guitar could lead to you being a better guitarist; and doing your laundry could lead to cleaner clothes; so, too, could the release of this electronic device lead to the slightly more refined next electronic device.”

@anon_pel222 Remastered ps5 games of course!

I'm really considering hopping off the bus after this generation, even if just for a while to see how things play out from a distance, because I've become very disillusioned with Sony over the last couple of years. Their prices are becoming insane, and the prospect of more and more remasters of games that just came out is not exciting to me. I know they have a couple of interesting things coming down the pipeline, but I think they're going to have to do a lot better if they want to retain all that good will they built up over several decades.

I'm about 85 games deep into catching up on PS5 gameslibrary. I really hope we can wait like 5 more years

Not only will they be able to test and optimize PSSR, but PS5 games will also run better on the PS6, essentially offering the performance of a PS5 Pro trough BC. Even if you skip the PS5 Pro, you still come out on top, as the backward compatibility on the PS6 will be even better. That’s simply a fact.

This is blindingly obvious. What worries me is the standard is sets regarding the price of the PS6.

If the Pro sells even remotely well then there's no way that the PS6 will cost less than £700 at launch.

@IOI - You could argue that XBox is already irrelevant, in terms of hardware anyway. This is two generations they have failed to make any progress with and, with this generation, they have actually lost market share.

If XBox were a stand alone company they would be pretty much on the rocks now. It's only the vast pockets of sugar daddy M$ that is keeping them afloat.

At best I see them just becoming a mega publisher in the future and dropping out of the hardware market entirely. Which may have an impact on Sonys pricing structure but probably not in the way people think.

PS5 Pro pricing is a reflection of the state of the world, weak yen, increased fab costs, conflicts, sanction war with china, and more. Pretty sure those kind of things will have more of an impact on pricing in the future too than the removal of an underperforming opponent who was never really a threat in thhe first place.

@OldGamer999 this is the exact point. Well said buddy. DLSS had its growing pains and continued to update it as will PSSR. By PS6 they will have many updates to it and have it running even better. Which is a win for everyone. AI upscaling is the future for both PC and console. This is a great starting point for Sony as PSSR even in its early stages is looking very good and capable. Sony is very good with image processing. I think they will get this to a point of great gains for the hardware and software.

It makes sense. You also have to look at what's happening in the PC segment. So far it looks like the future is RT, AI upscale, Framegen and various other AI postprocessing techniques. Maybe I'm a sheep but I'm looking forward to it.

@HonestHick
I will see one thing for Sony their top end TVs upscaling and motion processing is second to none. And I have a good few top end TVs.

I now have the X95L 65” and never looked back.

Nice sales pitch! I’m still not buying

@cuttlefishjones @themightyant you say MS is no threat but Sony wrote a whole book worth of their concerns to the courts about what MS is planning. Sure MS isn’t going to out sell PS consoles worldwide. Never, the same Sony isn’t going to outsell Nintendo in Japan. However with the ABK and Bethesda deals MS now has opened doors to mobile and PC revenue they never had access to. The same mobile and PC money Sony wrote about them not having and how much a disadvantage they will be in if the courts allow the merger. MS is now making a mobile game storefront, along with counting money from COD and Minecraft and others. Someting Sony is again showing how important that kind of revenue stream is by going all in on live service games. Sony having a 2-1 install base of consoles but not making more money than MS going forward is competition to Sony as they stated cause that is money they can’t have. While i am brining up court cases, Sony along with many others are headed to court, cause they want to lower the 30% cut platform holders get for hosting software on their platforms. If that get’s cut to say 10-15%, Sony will be the sisters of the poor with PS. So before you go out and claim the 3 trillion dollar company with more revenue streams and IP’s is just walking away, i would say read the public records Sony not me, not a fanboy, or even a gamer on YouTube has said but Sony themselves about the landscape from 2027 and onward. I think you will see it a much different way. MS and Sony will be making loads of money still but not in the ways we are used to seeing it from. As a 3 console owner, this is good to see as i don’t want any of the big 3 to leave. All their efforts are good or learning experiences for a better industry.

Edit: I included you to expand upon your reply Mighty, the gaming landscape is far different than what the average gamer is looking at. Sony is aware of what the future is and what they do and don’t have for it. They are not feeling nearly as good about their position after the Bethesda and ABK deal. They said so themselves. They know cloud and PC and Mobile and live service is where the younger players are, and who has the games and infrastructure in place for that future?

Let them get on with it, I'll check back @ ps6 time 😉

@bobby_steurer I know right? 30 plus years of playing bass guitar and I'm actually damn good..wow!

Interesting. This is the 1st time i think they have said that the PS5Pro upgrades over PS5, when compared to PS4Pro over PS4 gives "similar, if not outright superior results".

@OldGamer999 i always loved my Sony TV’s, i would have gotten 2 of them if they would have had 4 HDMI 2.1 slots. But they didn’t so i now have a 65 and 55 inch LG Oled, a C1 and C2. Love them. But yes Sony has great imagine processing, and i am sure at some point i will move back to their TV’s but for the love of tech Sony, just include four 2.1’s. Every other TV does that.

Paid beta testing. You loved it in software, now you can do it in hardware, too! How about. Design the PS6. Then sell the PS6. Hard concept?

Of course BC games will run on the PS6 in Pro mode just as happened with 4Pro and 1X.

But, I'm getting disillusioned with DF that seems to be acting as a marketing arm for Sony ever since the PS5 Pro came around, and is now stating the obvious like it's a unique advantage of the Pro. And still ignores the strangeness that Sony felt it needed its own upscaler proprietary to themselves as though the GPU vendor isn't already including it.

Just from their fawning over Pro and carrying water, I don't think I could ever trust DF to have non-biased opinions. Their measurements are fine, but their opinions, no, they're too biased to the new shiny or whoever's PR department is copying up to them at the moment.

@themightyant ", times have changed, EVERYTHING is more expensive. "

While that's true for what to expect on pricing I also don't buy it. "Times changed" for corporate profit goals, corporate B2B trade etc. Times did NOT change in the same direction for consumers who have less disposable income now than they did with then PS5 launched and have depleted most to all savings, where income effectively remained the same, but non-discretionary spending doubled. Where $500 was passable for a mainstream console in 2020, $400 would be pushing it today for the mainstream consumer. Sure the enthusiasts would spend $10,000 on the latest PS just to have it, but not the masses, whom they need for software sales.

You're not wrong that companies don't seem to understand that and won't price accordingly. Let's see if we can turn the looming recession into a depression!

@__jamiie @IOI For all the people still complaining about price. Sony will not subsidize the price of a console that is targeted to a niche audience and will not sell in large volumes.
They are doing a profit margin strategy instead of a subsidized strategy. These comments are becoming so tiring.

Also, since you mentioned it. Xbox started it by pricing their new console at $600. Coming out this holiday too btw, if u're not interested in the Pro

@NEStalgia DF comments about pricing are very much in line with what other industry experts are saying. Mostly due to rising component pricing.

Edit: Sony created their own upscaler, because they felt Amd's FSR didnt quite reach their standard. Seeing the early results they made a good move, seeing as PSSR seems more comparable to DLSS than FSR in quality

Can't wait for all the PS5 remakes/remasters on PS6...

We really needed these experts to tell us the PS5 Pro would lead to the PS6. I would never have guessed otherwise. Thank god for experts of all ilk for pointing out the obvious in expert ways...

I don’t understand why people keep complaining about the Pro raising the bar for PS6 pricing. Sony must have been aware that consumers were paying $800-$1000 to scalpers for the base PS5 for at least two years after release due to inventory constraints. This suggests that there was a demand there at a higher price point. Sony didn’t need the Pro to prove that.

At what point does the "innovation" amount to AAA games even releasing?

Seeing the mess of this generation, and the general apathy to it you would think Sony would temper their aspirations for next gen. How many people aren’t impressed or financially capable to move on from the PS4?

Assuming the audience will lap up whatever you do is a recipe for disaster. Just look at Hollywood Movies.

@HonestHick
Yep that is the most annoying penny pinching thing with Sony TVs only 2 HDMI 2:1 ports and one of them is the earc.
It’s like they only want you to have one console.

Also even in the HDMI 2:1 they don’t allow all features on at once.
Like you can’t have Dolby Vision and VRR on together.
With all that effort that goes into great upscaling and motion, they then do stupid things.

Why the anger with price it's a pro version. It in no way sets the tone for PS6 pricing. Base console will always be affordable they want software sales to 10's of millions of user. Making a few quid on the few willing to pay for higher spec will not excite shareholders and investors!

Doesn't every console pave the way for next, its pretty obvious PS6 will be an evolution of PS5.

You don't really need to be an expert to figure that out do you.

Duh, YoU mEaN LiKe ThEy DiD wItH tHe PS4 PrO?!? I mean come on. It is the half step we saw with the PS4 that led into the PS5.

The price argument is so boring.
Most people have a £1,500 phone that they pay £30 a month or more to use.

Similar with iPads and tablets.

True gamers will make sacrifices if they find it a stretch to buy the next console.

Many moons ago, we bought record players built into furniture, that would be the equivalent price of a small car these days.

Stuff costs money. Never gonna change

@HamKnight I'm doing the same. I'm skipping PS6 entirely and will probably jump back in halfway through PS7 life cycle with a ps7.

@TheMightyImp2 "Most people have a £1,500"

Err, no. Most people have a $200-400 phone. Some people have a $500-1000 phone. $1500 phones are status symbols for a very particular group. However vs the days of the PS2, people do have to frequently spend at least a few hundred on a phone, which also depletes their disposable income along with many other essentials that didn't exist back then.

@themightyant If consoles want to survive, yes consoles need to be cheaper, and stop chasing the technology dragon. They can't keep just jacking up prices forever, while the masses have even LESS spending power and expect to actually maintain sales. At this point they should just stick with PS5 for the next 30 years if that's the cheapest they can get it. Ever more expensive consoles do not have a place in the world, and just saying every few years "whelp, tech price is forever static so the next 10% will cost you another $500 vs last time" doesn't work. If they want to say console gaming is just for the rich, well....good luck on software sales, which are already in the toilet as-is.

I get what you're saying but the argument that tech is done evolving, pricing for performance is static forever, and every improvement will be done by stacking ever more cost onto the current pricing, frankly spells the end of technology as a consumer product and moves us very rapidly toward an all thin client cloud future faster than you can say "Cerny".

Spiraling cost of goods, coupled with ever decreasing disposable income = hard recession that makes 2008 look like a dress rehearsal or full depression that makes 1930 look like the good old days. You may be right about how the businesses will run things, but I'm also right about what happens after.

Also keep in mind that the economy was propped up through inflation by a mix of the rich spending twice as much, and both rich and poor depleting their savings almost entirely. The public basically did a bail-out of the economy and it's the only reason we're not looking at a depression already. But that trick worked only once. The savings is gone and not coming back. So what happens next? These companies are living on yesterday. It won't hold up forever.

I've pre-ordered the pro so not too soon, I hope.

I thought the headline meant “pave the way for a digital only PS6”. 😝

They may sell a disc drive later for PS5 games but it will be external and expensive so people don’t want it. 🤑

I have a tough time understanding why the video game business isn’t more like the mobile phone industry. The phones are basically free from many providers…as long as you have a subscription to their service. That’s kind of what we have now with PS+, but we still have to pay full price for the system.

@TheMightyImp2 Yeah businesses will continue to profit that’s the whole point of it being a business obviously we don’t want them to continue ripping us off but look at the statistics people still buy it and support it meaning they will continue to rise and factor in economical changes. The next 10 years are already pre-planned as it is and advancements in tech will continue and it’s up to the general public to support it or not and that will determine the outcome overall. Sadly the masses are split and it’s unlikely the world will wake up to the reality of it. Let alone the industry the shift in priorities and the world alone is in a different position than it was the good times we had are now a distant memory.

@themightyant Why not? Reality will be that less people will swap from PS5 to PS6. PS5 will be relevant console for longer by looking at PS4 as example and how that is still kicking around. For PS6 to be cheaper than PS5 Pro doesnt make sense. You would expect that PS6 will be more powerful console. That is not cheap. There needs to be some sort of price crash in silicon manufacturing.

At least the PS5 Pro is a gold mine for Push Square engagement!

@REALAIS PS6 will be mass-marketed and priced to sell to the larger userbase, PS5 Pro is not.

With so much talk about the PS6, it's already making the whole PS5 Pro an irrelevant $700.00 purchase that doesn't include a disc drive and lacks the ability to automatically enhance every game without a developer's patch.

@NEStalgia They're not discontinuing the PS5 you know? That console is still more in line with average peoples discretionary spending abilities. The Pro doesnt replace the original, people can still buy the regular PS5.

@ButterySmooth30FPS It’s 90% irrelevant bickering but it’s good for site traffic for sure.

I want to see more 3rd party kids games support from publishers such as Outright Games, Microids, Team17, Maximum Games, GameMill, etc on PS6.

@jgrangervikings1 Well maybe, but they'd have to increase the monthly price a lot and set a fixed amount of time for the subscription. For example 1 or 2 years. It would be like $35 to $60 a month depending on the length. Doesnt seem to me that this construction would appeal to many, but hey it might to some

The phones arent free, the price is factored in to your monthly payment. Atleast, if i understand correctly what you mean. I might be getting it wrong, im not from the US

Can we pave the way for some actual bloody games please 😑

@LogicStrikesAgain Yes, we were talking PS6.

Though I'd argue PS5 price is still too high for the current economy, and sales numbers are reflecting that as it is. A lot of previous gen sales happened after price cuts below $400. It's bull pricing in a hibernating bear market.

@LogicStrikesAgain @jgrangervikings1 Xbox does exactly that with the All Access program.

@LogicStrikesAgain The industry experts? Well they will say anything because their the ones who are making money off of it. They will say anything to screw over the customer

@NEStalgia any 36 month contract of £40 is basically £1,500.
My real point was £700 isn't really that much, compared to other high end products, like £17,000 jackets at Luis Vuitton

No way it will launch at £700 or more, the Pro is more of an enthusiasts console whereas the PS6 needs to sell to the masses and they won’t be paying that I’m pretty sure.

I think from here on out I won't buy a game until its second or third remake or remaster.

I mean yeah… that’s how it works… PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4…. PS5… PS… 6.

@TheMightyImp2 See, once we start comparing what was once commodity consumer products to designer fashion of which the sole purpose is an outward demonstration of social status, is the moment that electronics have jumped away from being what they were, and why most people who bought them, bought them.

No, a $700 console isn't a lot of money compared to a Luis Vuitton jacket, a Mercedes, a bungalow in in Costa Rica, a Lear twin engine, or the deed to the Empire State Building. It's still asinine for a console that's marginally better than the $500 console that was already overpriced. I'd joke that maybe next they'll sell multi-thousand dollar 24k gold plated playstations, but I recall a Push Square article years ago about a 3rd party seller that was already doing that........

FWIW, IDK the exact dollar amounts for the Xbox All Access, I just know it's a 2- year GPU subscription and the console rolled into monthly payments. They don't advertise it much anymore these days.

I know that's what Apple started. If they want to make Playstation a brand for the Vuitton crowd, they can do that, but they should also expect most of their customers may just take their game purchasing elsewhere.

This has to be one of the most pointless articles ever written!

@Lexluther23 Digital Foundry doesnt really make money from the PS5 Pro. They would be making videos regardless of that console.

If not listen to experts in the industry, then to whom do we listen to? Random people on the internet maybe? They seem to have a good track record with knowing how billion dollar industries and supply chains work.

DF is just stating the obvious assumptions anyone would make.

@NEStalgia I sympathize with ur point of view. Trust me, i can go on a whole rant about our capitalist monetary system. But ill spare everyone that one.
If they cant make housing, which is a basic human necessity, on par with average wages. Then let alone gadgets like these.
Inflation man, baked in to the system. Everything gets more expensive. Not a principle i agree with. But as long as they keep printing money, they keep devaluing the circulating money supply and everything will keep increasing in cost.

Digital Foundry also said that Witcher 3 is impossible for Switch ...

@Goku_ Wait some years - everything is possible for PStation pricing ...

@LogicStrikesAgain Yep. That ends very badly though. It bites themselves in the end (after it destroys everyone else.) When parasites kill the host, it kills them too. The only reason "business as usual" has persisted to now was the public collectively defecit spending. But it's hit rock bottom. As these companies "need" more money on the products, they'll lose sales continuously until they (not necessarily PS, but also not necessarily not), end up unsustainable. As we've seen in the games industry already, then you get the rounds of layoffs, consolidation, closures, but for more and more of the economy. Right now the economy is depending on the top third to do all the spending that the bottom 2 thirds used to. And for now they are, but it's an illusion as they're only spending in certain areas.

Guaranteed, this ends in the largest economic nightmare that's been seen since WWII. Maybe not this year, maybe not in 3 years. But it's coming, and I don't see how it's avoidable now. People pass off "but everything is more expensive, oh well" are missing the bigger, much more dangerous picture. The Fed sees it, it's why they've been clobbering interest to try to stem it and the companies keep making end runs around it. They know the spiral we're in. The big banks keep warning too.

In console land, if things don't change, the next gen will be way worse than this one. This one's doing ok because the early upshot at the old prices in the old economy jump started it. Real sales at new pricing in the new economy are not going to do so well. Game sales tell us a lot about how the games market is really doing, and they've been terrible. More and more of the market is just moving to F2P gatcha on whatever device they have because consoles priced themselves into that "weird" premium space where people are willing to pay a lot, but not nearly enough people.

Edit: Outside electronics I actually have seen more and more companies making cheaper versions of product that they used to make, so there ARE price reductions happening through more utilitarian manufacturing to meet the economy. Not in all sectors, but some elements DO get it. Electronics will have to keep up if it wants to survive too.

@NEStalgia I agree with you, but not on the causation part. I'd say the Fed and the central banks printing money is the main cause of inflation. Now the specific situation of component pricing, in addition to inflation, is caused by resource depletion. But im no expert, so these are just my guesses.

Yes, with how our monetary system is set up. We are perpetually headed for economic crisis. That unfortunately, is also built in to the system. Btw, with stating that, im not saying i agree with it. Im merely saying that, that indeed is how our economic system works.

We have a economic system that is based on perpetual growth, which is decoupled from nature or social wellbeing. Unfortunately none of that even factors in the equation of how our monetary system works.

There may come a point where all the costs of production of creating a console or game isnt in line with average wages anymore. You might argue that were already there, as you are. Well business will need to pivot then. Or create new technology.

They can make cheaper consoles, as you might suggest, but those cheaper consoles will have specs that will not be suited for triple A gaming. And maybe we as consumers need to adjust. No more triple A maybe? I dont know, there are many ways you can pivot. But all of it has risks or sacrifice involved. For both producer and consumer

The only "paving" it's going to do is pave the way to a $1000 launch price for the PS6.

@OldGamer999 couldn’t agree more and it’s the only reason i didn’t buy two Sony oled’s over LG. Otherwise i would have stuck with Sony, i was using their TV’s since the PS2 and Xbox OG days. Never had any issues with them and they always had nicer picture quality than my friends TV’s. So so strange they would do that when they know gamers spend good money on TV’s that have great video game features.

@JokerBoy322 If they do that, then they will also pave the way for some other company to create a cheaper console. And we'll all buy that one. See? No need to worry

@themightyant last video i seen said the courts are giving Sony time to gather it’s data and defense cases and the hearing could last up to 2 years. I seen that early last week. So i know just what is being said which is still little at this time. The only thing i want to know is why does Sony have to go to court alone and not all the others? Maybe i am not being given all the details but it sure sounded one sided and i am like well thats not fair. But that would change a lot. I mean imagine what that does to just call of duty money for Sony. Cuts it in half or more and this is why i try sometimes to show people don’t listen to the talking heads on YouTube and the chat forums as the only word that matters. This info i am giving is public information. Draw your own opinion based on the facts and not websites dumping on a brand. Cause it’s much different than it seems. The facts show this and Sony wrote pages on the effects it will have, even saying they would have to charge more for hardware for the losses this will cause them and sure enough we have a $5 dollar price hike to controllers and a $700 dollar Pro model. So had anyone read this they would know Sony already said this in the ABK MS court case.

@HonestHick Sony is the only one in court because they're the only one locking customers to buy on their store only. Xbox, steam, even Nintendo sell keys through many third parties and retailers. Only Sony actively REMOVED that option to control pricing and eliminate middle men, placing them in the same position as Apple and Google while the others are still selling though channels of competition.

@themightyant Sony has fine revenue. Their problem isn't a need to increase revenue it's the need to cut their absurd expenses. And I didn't mean more layoffs.

@NEStalgia Yeah thats a great point with the Key’s. I did know about that and totally forgot to even include that. Great reminder. Well that for sure has a chance to have huge impacts on the tech space. As you have mentioned this goes beyond video games. Google and Apple make a 30% also. Where else you going to go? There is no other big player in mobile. Also if the next Xbox does open up to Steam and Epic store, this will further make them more consumer friendly. I still hate that Sony don’t have a true return policy on digital games. I have used it 3 times on Xbox and got my full refund. See buddy just typing this is reason enough people shouldn’t be wishing companies out of the industry. It’s ok not to support them for whatever reason they see fit. But to say they hope they go away is just not smart.

@HonestHick I dont hope Xbox goes away at all. But you're comparing two different companies, with two different financial backing and two different ways of competing.
Sony's main way of competing have been the way of exclusivity. Xbox did it as well in the Xbox360 era. But Xbox seems to not be able to compete that way anymore. So now they're going the subscription way. Thats all fine. Sony's way is fine as well.

Its only natural that they said that prices will have to go up if they lose CoD. Why? Because their prices are subsidized, they make it back through software. Now if they thought they might lose a big chunk of that software then their fear is reasonable. Because thats their way of competing. Everyone wants Sony to compete like Microsoft, just because Microsoft cant compete like Sony. But why should Sony do that? Microsoft equally wouldnt care for Sony if the positions were reversed. And rightfully so, they're not a charity.

End of the day, i think Sony has more to worry about than Microsoft. Microsoft has shown that they are able and willing to buy big chunks of the gaming industry. And that is something Sony is unable to do. They simply cannot compete financially with a multi trillion dollar company.

And now people are even saying Sony needs to share their IPs, because its only fair to Microsoft, cause Sonys exclusivity strategy is so bad for Xbox. If Sony gives away their IPs now. Without their exclusivity strategy, how else could they compete with a trillion dollar company?

@IOI Microsoft are already irrelevant in the console space.

@LogicStrikesAgain i understand your points, where i would push back is not so much with you but with the people that think Sony should bring all their Ip’s to Xbox. I would say heck no to that the same way i would say Xbox shouldn’t bring all its Ip to PS. However the difference is live service games. I believe from the data i have looked at over the recent years and listening to dev’s. It clear that all the live service games that are successful and stay successful more on that later, are the ones on all platforms and launched on all platforms. They stay at high player numbers. Now to Helldrivers 2, first off it sold more on PC than PS, should needs to look at that, secondly it is now fading in the charts. Having that game on Xbox as i have suggested was shot down on this site saying Xbox console base is to small. Well 30 million is not small it’s just smaller than 60, and secondly all you need is 10% of that player base to buy and play the game and thats healthy money and lot’s of players returning or staying in that game. That can’t be ignored from Sony forever if they want to do live service. Also they need to not charge for certain live services games but I’ll let that slide as my point is it’s ok to bring certain titles to all platforms. I heard on here that MS bringing games to PS is devaluing the brand of Xbox and they are going out of business, or they have no exclsuvies they are already 3rd party. Well what the hell is Lego Horizon doing on switch? And why is God of war on PC? People need to be careful what they are saying as it will come back to bite them as Sony continues down that path, but my point is in the meantime of Sony dipping their toes in that water they are leaving lots of money on the table. The PC player base is only going to get bigger and bigger so MS and Sony being there makes sense. However certain titles to stay exclusive to help push your console i think is smart as well. Why buy a Xbox if i can get Halo on PS, why does a PS if i can get Last of us on Xbox? I understand those arguments, but Sony is rolling the ball up the hill trying to make live service games and keeping them locked to the PS player base. Just ain’t going to work long term.

@anon_pel222 the innovation will be finally getting true PS5 games

@HonestHick Fair point! I must say, you actually somewhat convinced me on that topic. It makes sense. I guess Sony just really prefers keeping all IPs exclusive, because of it being their main strategy for making their console attractive to people. They probably think they cant really mess with it, even for live services titles. And to be fair, im not sure how people would react. Maybe they shouldnt mess with it.

@NEStalgia @themightyant the article i saw last week said it would be up to a 2 year court case so who knows, maybe even longer. It’s interesting to see for sure. I hope i can get all the info from it to stay informed.

As for the price of PS again it was in the insomniac leak that Sony said they would need to become more luxury pricing on its console due to the ABK merger and losses that come with it. So since that leak we have known they were trending in the area of not losing money on the hardware. They said it as such themselves. However i think with the Pro, they know that is largely going to sell to people that already have a PS5, thus the Pro won’t increase software sales to offset the loss taken such as a base PS5 to a new user is aimed at. So there is a little bit of two things at play there. I agree their profit margins are bad and they will continue to be as long as they give into their fan base that all they should make is 250 million plus dollars without marketing single player games. That is a train full speed into the brick wall. Especially for a company that isn’t worth trillions. My point is what i was saying today was Sony takes Xbox’s approach very seriously and for causal fans on here thinking Xbox is just walking away aren’t putting all the pieces together that we have. Sure more MS titles are coming to PS, we know that. However why? Well some of it is to offset cost. Some of it is cause of GP players playing on there and not buying the game, BUT… some of it is to build value for Xbox players also, as in having GP an option and the big rumor and if true is awesome. Is MS is looking to do away with paid online next gen. Where is that loss of money going to come from? PS users buying Xbox titles. Yep thats right PS users paying $70 dollars to play the next MS game and having to pay Sony for online play will fund Xbox players to play the same game in GP with no online fee or Xbox players like myself that will buy the game for $70 dollars and enjoy no paywall to online. So there is going to be a lot of changes coming and as always never say never in this business. Things change fast and where we are at this point in time in gaming more changes are coming to PS and Xbox and some might surprise us more than we think.

@LogicStrikesAgain Agreed, printing money is the only cause of inflation and decades of QE was the most idiotic possible thing that ever could have been imagined. But a lot of the issue is also congressionally driven and the Fed is caught trying to put the pin in the grenade after throwing it.

As for consoles, we're already there at that point and it's getting worse. Yes we need to roll back technology and we need to roll back games themselves. Gunpei Yokoi knew this is where it would end up back in the mid 90s even before 3 financial crisis. is why Nintendo took that advice and keeps technology back. Yes they overcharge. Badly. I don't like their practices but they have the idea on tech in check so they don't end up here.

We've got to the point where "AAA games" aren't practical to make for a reasonable price and then we need hardware all but enthusiasts can't justify affording to barely adequately run it, meanwhile sales on said games are cratering as prices rise. On top of that the masses have mostly moved to playing far simpler games on far more accessible devices and the money in those is far greater. The games and tech need to roll back in time to manage reality. And it is happening with it without Sony and Xbox following already.

At this point this "aaa" console gaming crowd is more and more becoming a niche of old guys with money and doesn't represent the bulk of gaming which is dangerous for Sony because that leans into their natural inclinations and also doesn't have a future for long term gaming customers and also misses the core of who most games are made for. Young people don't even buy TVs

@themightyant #1, not officially. Xbox, Nintendo, steam etc sell keys though official vendors and third parties. Sony officially pulled selling game cards in most markets. The key vendors selling ps keys are selling from markets that they didn't kill it, which is how cheap keys exist for other stores too, but while the others officially do it in primary markets, Sony ended doing so. (Notice on major retailers you can buy digital Nintendo games and digital Xbox games but not digital ps games. You used to be able to until JimStation ended it

#3 PS5 is selling close to PS4 in the same way Xbox is selling 1:2. The fomo launch drove a lot of momentum until reality kicked in and sales have slumped. Keeping in mind they're picking up a lot of Xbox lost customers in that number and that they entered China this generation yet are merely nearly at PS4 levels... They're missing that surge of customers from the slim discount period.

To the last point. They're working on pricing themselves to irrelevance. Yes it's super famous now, but attrition continuing across hardware lifetimes, and eroding software sales will have an ongoing cumulative impact until it's top heavy.

@NEStalgia Yeah, you make good points. Cant argue with that. I agree. For now its just unclear for me to see how the industry can pivot. I think there will always be a market for triple A console gaming.

But yeah, the gaming industry is just so saturated. I guess cloud and subscription services really are the way to go. Definitely invest more in AA titles. But theres always going to be a part of the fanbase thats gonna complain.

One things for sure, its gonna be very interesting to see these upcoming years which pivots and decisions will be made and how it might change the gaming industry.

PS5 Pro, 32X, what isn't prep these days. Whether the digital side of things, they removed the digital game cards Xbox/Nintendo do that Sony just cut support on so whatever retail or know retail will die off enough.

It's no new hardware gimmick unless counting like the PS4 under controller buttons/back button attachment it was called right?

But the upscaling tech sure of course it is, or those to play around with whatever is possible to match PS6 in a way or bit under or whatever.

Either way a new system that preps them for the ne4xt one, no way Tech Experts, we didn't see that coming.

They sometimes go for hardware prep then API or other possibilities to prep third parties before the major PS6 shift, same with PS4 Pro, Xbox isn't this time and that's understandable due to their potential future plans, DSi, New 3DS, not like GBC.

Unless people are new then sure, but if not we all know this it's nothing new.

@LogicStrikesAgain who? Microsoft? Haha no. Insiders already admitted it was going to be $600 but since Xbox is no competition and Switch isn't really competing on the same level, that Sony felt no need to make it cheaper. This is why the industry needs competition and Sony doesn't have any.

@JokerBoy322 Why not? Sony overpricing a console and asking $1000, doesnt come without any consequences. Its not like they can just do that, without competitors undercutting them.

So you can worry no more, high chance thats not gonna happen

Edit: Was it really confirmed it would be $600 though? Maybe they saw the Xbox coming out this holiday for $600 and had to change their plans lol

PS5 Pro isn't even out yet and they are already starting in on the PS6 rumors and hype lol

@JayJ Gotta get those 33rd anniversary PS6 Amateur preorders in now! Only 666 units available (bundled with 90" OLED Bravia only.)

@LogicStrikesAgain I think the issue with "AAA" gaming is that while there still will always be a market for it, that market is decreasingly large enough to support ever increasing costs of making it. Either the market for it needs to dramatically grow or the prices need to dramatically increase which necessarily shrinks the market again to unsustainably small numbers. Neither can really happen, so either "AAA" needs to cost less to make, or be refined as something other than "looks indestinguishable from live action".

I can't tell what direction (s) the industry will take. I can't tell if it'll be all bad or mostly good. But I do know it'll be very very different than it was....

What makes you think the next Xbox will be less powerful than the PS6, @Blofse? Microsoft have already said their next console will see a huge leap in power, and of course (on paper) the Series X is more powerful than the PS5. So I'm curious as to why you think the NeXtBoX will be less powerful than the PS6? The only reasonable possibility I can come up with is that the PS6 will release 2 or 3 years after the NeXtBoX, and so Sony can adjust their console as a consequence, but even then, if that happens, then Microsoft will supersede the PS6 when it releases the one after that, and so it goes on...

Did they also say water is wet?

@Fiendish-Beaver it depends on when they release the next Xbox. Rumour has it they’re going to release it in 2 years, and if PS6 arrives 2 years after that, it makes perfect sense that the PS6 will be more powerful. If the console releases stay staggered like that, assuming Xbox sales don’t tank so badly MS gives up altogether, then they’ll essentially leapfrog one another in terms of power, as you said.

@themightyant Switch is only about 45M ahead of 3ds+wiiu, which is still a lot of course but less dramatic. And Nintendo of course is a bit of it's own market while ps and Xbox are direct competitors if not outright clones. I'm terms of Xbox being only somewhat down, it's true, but also remember that the series s is its biggest seller, where the goal was to reach a new market, and they did, but at the cost of just trading it for losing part of their existing market to ps due to blundering.

I would still say Sonys current hardware success is similar to PS4, lack of a competitor. And Xbox is never going to pull their head from their backside on console because they don't really care (even though they should.). But I still see Sony taking that and running, PS3 style, until they start creating competition where the previously had none, if only in the shape of mobile, streaming, etc making easier inroads to consumer sentiment. And you're still forgetting that adding the China market boosts that hardware sales number, yes, but also hides the overall declines in existing markets

@LogicStrikesAgain You’re getting it right. Yes, the monthly fee would probably need to be increased to $30 or $40 per month, but everything seems to be a monthly payment nowadays—from cable to internet to phone to car payment to house payment to insurance costs to credit card payments. It’d just be one more monthly payment.

Exactly, @SilentBluntman. They will each, in turn, be able to claim to have the most powerful console, though for each it will only be for 2 or 3 years. Personally, I quite like that because it forces each to improve their consoles. However, I strongly suspect that when Microsoft release their next console in 2026 that it will be the last console we get from them (other than the much rumoured handheld, and depending on the success of that console, there maybe further iterations of that). When that happens, and only Sony occupy the 'high-end' console market, then they won't have to keep wowing us with ever improved models, but they will expect us to empty our wallets in order to buy one...

@Fiendish-Beaver a lot’s riding on the next Xbox for sure. MS really needs to convince players it’s worth getting one, and it’s not just about fancier ray tracing, but games. Sony and MS own so many studios that you’d think they’d organise it to have one or two big releases per year minimum, since games of that complexity and visual fidelity take so long to develop now. The tech has advanced too quickly - with the Switch, Nintendo can still release big titles at a reasonable rate while keeping the budgets under control, so they rarely need 1 million sales just to break even (Zelda BOTW & TOTK being those titles), let alone the 10 mil+ some games on PS5 and XSX need to sell these days.
If MS stuff up their next console and drop out (or go PC & handheld only), I agree that they’ll gouge gamers as much as they think they can - we’re already seeing that with the ridiculous price of the PS5 Pro. Just because I can afford to pay that, doesn’t mean I’m going to.