At the hardware level, PS5 Pro is the most powerful console ever produced by Sony and that translates into better on-screen results in the more than 50 games with the improved label. On a commercial level, it is a somewhat confusing movement: its 799 dollars price (920 if we want a disc reader that is sold separately) is a barrier for many interested parties. A wall that, according to Hiroki Totoki, the president of Sony, is being overcome better than in past generations.
To have a complete view of why PS5 Pro was launched and how it is performing in its first days, it is necessary to place the key piece of the puzzle: it is a console created for a very specific user profile: the most important customer base. In other words, unlike PS5, it is not a video game system designed to reach the general public. And this is not an opinion, mind you, but statements from Totoki himself to the middle Nikkei.
“This is a high-end product aimed at core customers, so we haven’t been considering a big sales plan to begin with.”
From here it is time to make a practically obligatory clarification: What is this “base of the most important clients”? The quick answer is that they are those users who have the greatest loyalty to a specific brand or a company’s values, are distinguished from the rest by their long-term value to the company, and generally represent about a fifth of the total of consumers. At least, as stated in the oxford dictionary.
Sony, in general terms, usually develops and puts on sale hardware specifically designed for that base of the most important customers in basically its entire branch dedicated to technology (televisions, sound equipment, camcorders…). And it is not something exclusive to them, for the record, since Apple also works like this. Which brings us to the real big question raised in the headline: How is PS5 Pro performing commercially?
The most powerful PlayStation is not sold out in stores, but it performs better than PS4 Pro
To the joy of all concerned (and despair of the speculators) there were units for anyone who wants to get a PS5 Pro on the day of its launch and those that followed after. And from here a second note: that a game console does not run out is not a bad sign. At all. But the fact that there is demand and not having the capacity to supply or distribute it on time is something negative for absolutely everyone. Including Sony.
However, without giving figures on the table – because it is still very early – Hiroki Totoki establishes that the objectives and reception are being a little better than those of the same revision that the previous generation console had. A PS4 Pro that, in fact, arrived with its price adapted to the market and came hand in hand with a reduction for the previous models.
“My impression is that the product is slightly outperforming PS4 Pro pre-orders over the same period, so I don’t think it’s negatively impacting the product’s sales plan.”
Logically, these data have to be seen with perspective: PS5 Pro went on sale in November in the same way as the PS5 of 2020 and the model popularly known as “slim” launched last year with a clear objective: to be available during the period ranging from Black Friday to Christmas madness. So, in all likelihood, we will only be able to really take the pulse of the launch and success of this new 16 TFLOPs PlayStation when Santa Claus and the Three Wise Men have visited the homes of half the planet.
What we do have is a clear reference to the state of PS5 sales before starting to receive this additional boost of having launched a “Pro” model: the latest financial resultswhich were registered until September 30, determine that in the four years that the current generation of PlayStation has been available 65.6 million consoles have been sold. That is, five million more than the last time (three months before) and with the PS5 Pro already announced.
Sony’s strategy with PS5 Pro is clear: offer a system for everyone and an alternative designed for the most important customer base. The key now is not so much in the improvements, but in enhancing the value of the consoles with great first-party and third-party releases, and in 2025 we will have two guaranteed: Death Stranding 2: On The Beach and Ghost of Yotei. Beyond these, and undated, the debut of Wolverine by Insomniac Games. Titles that will really define not only the success of PS5, but also that extra quality promised by the Pro models. In iGamesNews | Neither Elden Ring, nor Bloodborne nor Dark Souls: no FromSoftware game will be perfect until it has this game mode
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