Coming out of the official reveal of Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro, there were two common complaints on social media: the lack of a disc drive and the $700 retail price. Now, video game analysts are sharing their opinions about whether gamers are ready to accept the PS5 Pro when it arrives in just under two months.
Ampere Analysis’s research director for games, Piers Harding-Rolls, doesn’t believe that the price will ultimately deter too many fans from getting a PS5 Pro over the next few years. He also stated that since Microsoft’s Xbox Series X doesn’t appear to be getting a mid-generation console upgrade of its own, Sony had a free hand to introduce PS5 Pro with the higher price point.
Mat Piscatella, the executive director and video game industry analyst at Circana, wrote on Threads that the PS4 Pro didn’t significantly increase the number of total PlayStation 4s that were sold, but it did appeal “to the super enthusiast” and it accounted for 15% of the total dollars that were spent on the system. Harding-Rolls predicts that the PS5 Pro will ultimately reach the same audience, albeit at lower numbers than the PS4 Pro.
“Ampere forecasts that around 1.3 million PS5 Pro consoles will be bought by consumers in the 2024 launch window,” writes Harding-Rolls. “This is compared to 1.7 million PS4 Pros that were sold at launch in 2016. We expect the price point to soften demand with some consumers, but for PlayStation enthusiasts the pricing is less of a consideration. According to Ampere data, over its life, the PS4 Pro sold-through 14.5 million units, around 12% of total PS4 sales. We’re expecting a similar dynamic for the PS5 Pro, with the expectation that it will sell-through around 13 million units by 2029.”
Piscatella and Harding-Rolls both point to Grand Theft Auto VI as a title that could potentially entice players who are still using their PlayStation 4 consoles to finally make the leap to PlayStation 5. Harding-Rolls added that a share of those users are likely to go directly for the PS5 Pro.
The PS5 Pro will officially launch on November 7, and that’s when everyone in the industry should get a better idea about whether the upgraded console can meet or exceed its sales projections.
