PS5 Pro console due this Christmas as GTA 6 upgrade claims analyst
A fan render of what the PS5 Pro might look like (Picture: Twisted Voxel)
Sony is counting on a 2024 launch for the PS5 Pro to boost flagging profits, claim analysts, and to take advantage of the hype for GTA 6.
For a console that is outselling its most direct rival by a factor of 2:1 (and by far more in some countries, such as Japan and France), the PlayStation 5 is in a real fix at the moment.
First party game releases have slowed to a halt, it’s going to miss its current year hardware sales goal by four million consoles, and investor concern about falling profit margins has wiped $10 billion off Sony’s value.
As we explored last week, these are difficult days for both Xbox and PlayStation, neither of which seem willing to admit that video games have got too expensive to make this generation. Instead of addressing that issue, analysts believe that Sony’s answer to the current problems is the PS5 Pro.
The PS5 Pro has long been rumoured for launch this autumn, with detailed leaks about its technical specifications and a supposed September release date.
Sony has never announced plans for a mid-generation upgrade but as long ago as 2022 execs were seemingly hinting at a release, apparently originally planned for 2023.
‘There seems to be a broad consensus in the game industry that Sony is indeed preparing a launch of a PS5 Pro in the second half of 2024,’ Tokyo-based analyst Serkan Toto told CNBC.
‘And Sony will want to make sure to have a great piece of hardware ready when GTA 6 hits in 2025, a launch that will be a shot in the arm for the entire gaming industry.’
There’s currently no official word as to when next year GTA 6 will be released, but given how good the trailer looked many have worried how well current consoles are going to be able to run it.
If Sony could promote the PS5 Pro as the preferred way to play the game, then that could indeed boost sales – perhaps even reverse the decline in console sales that has already set in due to its age.
Sony’s position is the opposite of Microsoft’s, which seems to have no plans for a mid-gen upgrade, although there are rumours of a new console model this autumn, that is assumed to be more in line with the PS5 Slim.
Microsoft has already announced plans for next generation hardware, albeit with no confirmed timeframe for their release, but Sony has so far avoided talking about the PlayStation 6, even though there have been a few initial rumours as to their plans.
Sony’s more immediate problem is the drop in their operating margin, which is amongst the lowest it’s ever been.
The official explanation for this from Sony is vague talk about having to ‘optimise sales with a greater emphasis on the balance with profits’, but Toto is quick to blame the high cost of creating games, pointing to the unsustainably high $300 million budget of Spider-Man 2.
Until Sony, and Microsoft, address this issue, which is only going to get worse in the next generation, profits are going to continue to be an ongoing issue.
That’s why Sony is so interested in live service games, and why both companies are now talking about making their first party titles multiformat.
And yet apparently Sony’s only answer to the problem is not reducing the price of the PS5 Slim once the PS5 Pro is released, as predicted by Omdia analyst George Jijiashvili.
‘A scenario where Sony launches as [sic] PS5 Pro, but still experiences a [sic] declining year-on-year hardware sales is very much within the realms of possibility,’ said Jijiashvili.
Yet more new hardware but still no new games (Picture: Concept Creator)
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