Sony today announced the PlayStation 5 Pro, a mid-generation hardware upgrade that will play the same library of games as the 2020 PlayStation 5, but with higher frame rates and better resolution than the original system. The new units will be available on Nov. 7 for $700, Sony said.
The updated hardware will come complete with 2TB of solid-state storage (up from 1TB on the original PS5), but without an Ultra HD Blu-Ray disc drive, which users can purchase as an additional accessory for $80.
In a video presentation on Tuesday, Sony’s Mark Cerny said that PS5 developers “want higher graphics performance” so they can deliver the visuals they want at a 60fps frame rate. The lack of sufficient graphics power on the PS5 means gamers have to make a tough choice between the higher resolution of “fidelity” mode and the smoother frame rates of “performance” mode (three-quarters of gamers choose the latter, according to Cerny).
The goal of the PS5 Pro, Cerny says, is to deliver “the graphics that game creators aspire to, at the high frame rates that gamers typically prefer.” To achieve that, the new system will feature a larger GPU that can support “up to 45 percent faster rendering,” Cerny said, with 67 percent more compute units and 28 percent faster video RAM than the PS5. This will enable “near-fidelity graphics at ‘performance’ frame rates” of 60 frames per second in many existing PS5 games, Cerny said.
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The two sides of this comparison are supposed to look comparable in fidelity, but the PS5 Pro runs at 60fps, as opposed to the PS5's 30fps.
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Spider-Man 2 is one of the games that will benefit from smoother frame rates at high fidelity on PS5 Pro.
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Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart It was shown to run much smoother on the PS5 Pro.
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Compared to the PS5's high frame rate “performance” mode, many games display higher fidelity on the PS5 Pro.
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AI scaling helps Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart Crowd scenes look sharp on PS5 Pro.
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Incidental details such as Spider-Man 2Street traffic looks sharper on the PS5 Pro than in the PS5's “Performance” mode.
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PS5 Pro enables ray-traced car reflections in Gran Turismo 7 maintaining a frame rate of 60 fps.
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The PS5 Pro allows for “greater realism in shadow projection” in The Hogwarts LegacyCerny said.
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Horizon: Forbidden West “You'll get improvements to lighting and visual effects” on the PS5 Pro, Cerny said.
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Horizon: Forbidden West The cinematics will show “[improvements to] “hair and skin” in PS5 Pro cinematics, Cerny said.
The PS5 Pro will also bring what Cerny says is a “streamlined and accelerated approach” to ray tracing, with individual rays calculated at “double or even triple the speeds of PlayStation 5.” In examples shown on video, Cerny highlighted how reflections between cars are now available at 60fps for Gran Turismo 7 on the PS5 Pro and how games like The Hogwarts Legacy Could have more realistic shadow effects.
An “AI library” called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) will also be available on the PS5 Pro to automatically upscale in-game scenes. Cerny highlighted how this can make distant crowds in a game look like Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart to see much more clearly.
Titles that can take advantage of the PS5 Pro's more powerful GPU will be marketed as “PS5 Pro Enhanced.” Titles that will carry that designation include:
- Alan Wake 2
- Assassin's Creed: Shadows
- Demon souls
- Dragon's Dogma 2
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
- Gran Turismo 7
- The Hogwarts Legacy
- Forbidden West Horizon
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2
- Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart
- The crew motor festival
- The first descendant
- The Last of Us Part II Remastered
Other titles will be able to take advantage of “PS5 Pro Game Boost,” which Sony says “can stabilize or improve the performance of compatible PS4 and PS5 games.”
PS5.5
The upgrade follows the story of the PS4 Pro, which launched almost exactly three years after the PS4 and offered the ability for higher resolutions, faster frame rates, or both on many games in the PS4 library. The PS5 Pro arrives later in the life cycle of Sony’s latest console, however, and at a point where Sony has yet to drop the $500 launch price for the console and raised the price of the disc-less Digital Edition last year (though inflation has eased that nominal price tag somewhat).
The PS5 Pro follows last year's launch of a redesigned “Slim” model of the PS5, which shrunk the massive bulk of the original PS5 while maintaining the same internal processing power.
Microsoft has yet to show any signs of plans for a similar upgrade for the Xbox Series X/S, which also launched in late 2020. However, earlier this year, Microsoft announced the first-ever disc-less edition of the Xbox Series X for this holiday season.
Nintendo, which released a Switch with an improved OLED display in 2021, is expected to release a backwards-compatible sequel to the Switch in 2025.
This story has been updated with additional details and images from Sony's announcement.