While the PlayStation 5 is apparently entering the later stages of its life cycle, some industry analysts think Sony might be planning to give the system an update similar to the one the PS4 received with the PlayStation 4 Pro within the next year.
CNBC reports that analysts claim a PlayStation 5 refresh is likely on its way ahead of the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI in 2025. This would be in order to bolster interest in the console ahead of the game’s release, which, if history tells us anything, will sell millions of copies for years to come.
“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,” Serkan Toto, CEO of games consultancy company Kantan Games, told CNBC. “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.”
The next question is whether or not this would signal a price drop for the base PlayStation 5 or if it would maintain its current $499 price tag. During a recent earnings call, Sony management said its plan for the next year is to “optimize sales with a greater emphasis on the balance with profits,” which Omida Senior Principal Analyst George Jijiashivili says may cause Sony to keep the PS5 at its launch price even after the souped-up version releases.
“Therefore, a scenario where Sony launches a PS5 Pro, but still experiences declining year-on-year hardware sales is very much within the realms of possibility,” Jijiashvili said.
The PlayStation 4 Pro launched in 2016, three years after the original PS4 was released in 2013. It was a slightly beefier version of the system and supported 4K output. That does raise questions of what the PS5 could offer as its big selling point. When the PS4 Pro launched, 4K TVs were bubbling up to mainstream households and became the standard around the launch of the PS5. The hypothetical PS5 Pro would likely be more powerful than the base system, but we won’t know just how much more powerful until Sony announces any such thing.
Whatever Sony’s plans are, it would be a weird year to release a PlayStation 5 upgrade when there’s not much to sell alongside the system in 2024. Sony has even said it won’t be releasing much in the way of tentpole games until 2025.
