Sony finally pulled the wraps off the PlayStation 5 Pro this week, and the internet responded with the kind of collective gasp usually reserved for gas prices and airline baggage fees.
The console arrives November 7 at $699.99, a full $200 above the launch price of the standard PS5.
For that money, you get a bigger GPU, fancier ray tracing, and a feature called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution—which sounds less like a gaming technology and more like something your dentist recommends.
Here's the part that sent Reddit into a full meltdown: the vertical stand is sold separately.
Sony did this with the base PS5, got roasted for it, and apparently decided the lesson was "do it harder." The disc drive is also sold separately, so if you want to play physical games, that's another $79.99.
Congratulations, you've now spent $780 before you've bought a single game, and you still don't have a piece of plastic to hold the thing upright.
What does the extra horsepower actually buy you?
Sony says the Pro targets 60 frames per second at 4K with ray tracing enabled, plus an 8K mode that most people can't use because they don't own an 8K TV.
Roughly 40 to 50 games will get enhanced patches at launch, including Spider-Man 2 and The Last of Us Part II Remastered.
If you squint at a side-by-side comparison, you might notice sharper reflections in a puddle.
The math gets uglier when you remember the PS5 Digital Edition regularly goes on sale for $399.
That's a $300 gap for improvements that Digital Foundry will need a 400% zoom to explain to you.
Unless you're running a 120Hz OLED and own a magnifying glass, your eyeballs probably won't file a complaint with the old model.
Microsoft's Series X sits at $499, and while it's not winning any beauty contests this generation, it plays the same third-party games for two hundred bucks less.
Meanwhile, a decent gaming PC costs more upfront but doesn't charge you for online play and gets Steam sales that make console storefronts look like airport convenience stores.
Sony is betting you'll pay the premium anyway because God of War isn't coming to Game Pass.
Pre-orders open September 26, and scalpers are already stretching like Olympic sprinters.
If history repeats, the first wave sells out in minutes, shows up on eBay at $1,200, and Sony issues a statement about how it's "working to meet demand." Wash, rinse, repeat.
The Verdict Sony built a console for people who already own a PS5 and a 4K OLED and a disposable income they're actively trying to get rid of.
For everyone else, the standard PS5 just became the smarter buy, and that's a weird thing for a company to accomplish on launch week.
Final Thoughts
If you need a stand, a disc drive, and a $700 receipt to feel something, this one's for you.