Is water wet? Are Andrew Tate fans the most annoying people on the internet? Will there be a more powerful PlayStation 5? Some questions are so obvious, they don’t need an answer. Ever since the PS5’s release, fans have been clamouring for a souped-up version. It was never a question of ‘will’, it was a question of ‘when’ one would arrive. Thanks to a new report from CNBC, that question might finally have an answer.
The PS5 is going Pro, bro
Quoting Sekran Toto, a games analyst and CEO of Tokyo-based Kantan Games, CNBC’s report mentions that “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.”
So, why now? Well, there are a couple of reasons. For one thing, Sony’s in a bit of a rut. Just last week, the Japanese conglomerate noted a massive drop-off in sales, resulting in the slashing of its 25 million-strong forecast for 2024 down to 21 million, according to Bloomberg (boo-hoo, Sony) Sony even went as far as saying the PS5 was on its last legs — barely three years after its release.
“Looking ahead, PS5 will enter the latter stage of its life cycle,” said Naomi Matsuoka, senior vice president. “As such, we will put more emphasis on the balance between profitability and sales. For this reason, we expect the annual sales pace of PS5 hardware to start falling from the next fiscal year.”
And two; Grand Theft Auto VI. Yup, CNBC’s report reckons that Sony is looking to pump out a new piece of hardware to better accommodate gamers looking to pick up Rockstar Games’ when it eventually arrives in 2025. We’re not sure an entirely new console was necessary, but we’ll take it.
“And Sony will want to make sure to have a great piece of hardware ready when GTA VI hits in 2025, a launch that will be a shot in the arm for the entire gaming industry,” Toto finished.
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Despite Sony’s financial ‘troubles’ (if you can call them that), a new piece of hardware and what appears to be a very bare slate for 2024, George Jijiashvili, senior principal analyst at Omdia, believes Sony won’t be slashing the original PS5’s price tag anytime soon, even after the PS5 Pro’s release. This was in response to Sony’s comments, where it said its aim for gaming is to “optimize sales with a greater emphasis on the balance with profits.”
As for what a PS5 Pro might look like, nobody but Sony knows. We’re less concerned about its physical appearance — as long as it’s prettier than that atrocity we got in 2020 — and more worried about the sort of performance it’ll be repping. Rumours have been bandied about for months now, though nothing appears to be based on solid fact. We guess we’ll just have to wait — until the second half of 2024, apparently — and see.