Sony just pulled the curtain back on the PlayStation 5 Pro, and if you were hoping for a budget-friendly mid-generation refresh, congratulations on your unshakeable optimism.
The company announced the console will retail for $699.99, which is a number that makes the original PS5's $499 launch price look like a clearance bin bargain.
That's before you buy a disc drive, a vertical stand, or literally any game to play on it.
For that hefty sum, you get a beefed-up GPU, advanced ray tracing, and something Sony is calling "AI upscaling" that it insists is a game-changer.
Translation: your games will look slightly sharper and run a little smoother, assuming you own a TV that costs as much as a used Honda Civic.
If you're still gaming on a 1080p panel from 2016, the Pro's flagship features will be about as useful to you as a screen door on a submarine.
The math gets even funnier when you factor in the disc drive, which Sony has conveniently made optional and sold separately for $79.99.
Yes, the console that markets itself as the ultimate gaming machine doesn't actually play physical discs unless you fork over extra.
It's the gaming equivalent of buying a car and discovering the steering wheel is DLC.
Sony's pitch boils down to this: the PS5 Pro is for the "most engaged" players, which is corporate speak for people who own an 8K TV and have already platinumed every game in their library.
For everyone else, it's a solution in search of a problem.
The standard PS5 still runs every new release just fine, and developers aren't exactly churning out Pro-exclusive titles.
You're paying a premium for slightly better performance on games that already looked pretty good.
With the economy doing its best impression of a rollercoaster and everyone's grocery bill looking like a mortgage payment, asking gamers to drop seven hundred bucks on a console that's only marginally better than the one they already own feels like a tough sell.
The pre-order crowd will show up, sure, but the rest of us are going to wait for a price drop that may never come.
Microsoft hasn't announced a mid-gen upgrade, which means Sony is essentially competing with itself.
The PS5 Pro exists because Sony can make it, not because anyone was desperately asking for it.
That's not innovation; that's a quarterly earnings report with a heatsink.
It's just a bad value proposition for most people.
If you've got disposable income and a burning desire to see Spider-Man's webs glisten in 4K at 120 frames per second, knock yourself out.
But for the average player, the standard PS5 is still the smarter buy, and that's not likely to change until Sony gives us a real reason to upgrade. **The Verdict:** Sony is charging luxury prices for an incremental upgrade, and unless your TV cost more than your rent, you can safely sit this one out.
Final Thoughts
Save your money, buy the regular PS5, and spend the difference on, you know, actual games.