Alongside the most pointless handheld console known to humanity, Sony is also rumoured to be beavering away on a PS5 Pro. For all those gamers who really need their consoles to be that bit more professional.
It’s far from official but reasonably likely given Sony made a PS4 Pro last generation. And rather helpfully for the company’s PRs, that hasn’t stopped one industry bigwig from giving the hypothetical console a shrug rather than pure, unadulterated excitement.
“Generally speaking, the mid-generation upgrades haven’t really changed much,” said Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take Two, the company behind franchises like Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock, Civilization and Borderlands, in an interview with IGN.
He later repeated that these upgrades don’t tend to be “all that meaningful.” It’s a quote that Sony is unlikely to put on the box of the PS5 Pro, should it ever actually exist.
Without wanting to upset any Sony (or Microsoft, which also made a souped-up Xbox One X last generation) executives, he has a point. While enthusiasts might enjoy the slightly sharper graphics and frame rates, such consoles are a niche product and developers need to ensure their games work on the cheaper hardware. As such, there’s only so much better a Pro-enhanced game can be — especially for Microsoft which also has to build for the weaker Series S.
It also doesn’t help that this console generation started in November 2020, when the world was grappling with COVID vaccines and supply chains weren’t firing on all cylinders. As such, it’s been a slow start with most of the big-hitting titles coming to the previous generation as well as the shiny newer one. If there’s not much point in buying a PS5 after nearly three years, then an enhanced version feels like an even tougher sell.
But given we’re not expecting a PS6 until 2028 at the earliest, Sony’s engineers have to keep busy with something. While shrinking down the comically large PS5 should really be the priority, don’t be surprised if a Pro version emerges in the next year or so.
