Looks like the rumors were true. During today's PlayStation Technical Showcase, Mark Cerny and Sony officially announced the PS5 Pro, and while it'll represent a substantial power increase over the PS5, that increase will come with a cost.
The showcase was announced yesterday, and prior to that, rumors were swirling that Sony would announce the PS5 Pro during the show. That's exactly what they've done, and lead architect Mark Cerny says it's "the most powerful console" Sony has ever built. It's arriving in November.
During the showcase, Cerny points out that when faced with a choice between Fidelity and Performance modes, Performance mode is chosen around 75% of the time. Cerny says he and Sony want to make that choice easier for players by upping the power of the PS5.
To achieve this, the PS5 Pro will focus on what Cerny calls "the big three" technical improvements: a larger-capacity GPU, advanced ray tracing capabilities, and a proprietary AI upscaling method that should make images look sharper and crisper.
According to Cerny, the PS5 Pro's GPU will offer up to 45% faster rendering than the standard PS5, while advanced ray tracing tech delivers results up to twice or three times as fast as the current base PS5 model.
As for that AI upscaling tech, it's called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, and it works in a similar way to existing tech like Nvidia's DLSS or AMD's FSR, analyzing game images and upscaling them using AI technology.
We got to see a number of examples of games running on the new PS5 Pro, and the machine does look pretty impressive, although I'd imagine that you'd need to see both running side-by-side for several minutes to really appreciate the differences.
Cerny says that PS5 Pro support will be added to new games and existing titles alike, and games like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, The Last of Us Part 2, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 were shown.
Of course, all of this extra power comes at a price; the PS5 Pro will cost $699.99, so you'd better be sure you really need the improvements it's offering before you open your wallet.
There's another caveat that might sour the deal for you; the PS5 Pro will launch without a disc drive, so if you want one, you'll have to buy the one that Sony is selling separately. That feels like it's going to be a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
The PS5 Pro launches on November 7th, both at participating retailers and via PlayStation Direct. You'll be able to preorder it starting from September 26th.
