Do We Even Need PS5 Pro or Xbox Series X Pro?

The quicker-than-expected uptake of 4K and HDR-capable TV sets drove demand for mid-gen upgrades for PS4 and Xbox One. Is the same need there for PS5 Pro and XSX Pro?

[Jin_Sakai]

Do we need it? Probably not but it’s nice to have the option for better looking/performing games and enhanced RT.

[PrimeVinister]

If it was the same price or only slightly more expensive, I would consider trading in the OG PS5. But I would probably be more interested in just the Slim model, or if the Pro was a bit smaller than the OG.

A bit like how Xbox One X was quite a svelte piece of kit compared to the 1980s VCR of OG Xbox One as well as able for 4K and HDR.

[GrizzliS1987]

I’d like an option to not have to choose between graphics or performance every dam time. If the pro allows for both, I might even replay all the games I had to choose between one or the other. Witcher 3, Valhalla, ratchet, to name a few

[darthv72]

Options are always a good thing to have.

[-Foxtrot]

I’m sorry but no

Developers can’t even take advantage of what we have at the minute and still feel they have a pinky finger wrapped around last gen

The options would be meaningless as they wouldn’t be able to take advantage of those either, especially having to think about the base Gen consoles

Also skipping a mid-gen console will allow people to be more taken back with next gen and how good it looks without the whole “preview show”

[InUrFoxHole]

True

[wolf581]

Well right now developers using fsr to hit 60
Lord of the fallen runs at 1080p and immortals of avenue at 720p to hit 60...hell too many games cant hit 4k native and 60 and its not all developers fault...from the start we saw the potential of these machines...
I will definitely go and buy xboxsx pro and ps5 pro if it is to play
Starfield atleast at 2k/60
Lord of the fallen 2k/60 with RT
SPIDERMAN 2 2k/60 full RT
Grand turismo 7 4k/60 but with RT
Forza motorsport 4k/60 with RT
Imagine Horizon forbidden west with full RT or the new star was survivor that to hit 60 developers forced to cut resolution to half and the whole RT concept plus some withdraws...respawn studios worked months to give a decent performance mode...
And there iare so many next gen games coming out that cry out for a refreshment...

[RaiderNation]

"Developers can’t even take advantage of what we have at the minute"

Not to play devils advocate but, unless you're a developer who's worked on these dev kits, how do you know this?

[Rude-ro]

I believe we should get a performance ps5 more than a pro.
1440p @ 120fps with monitor support such as Ultrawide displays and for the fps enthusiast or those that want the far superior performance over 4K resolution.
With software cheating being as bad as it is on pc in popular games…
Would be nice to have a console step into its place for pc/monitor setups.

[LonDonE]

NO just no - how about the give us a sleak version instead and which is better with heat or how about they create a version which has proper legs so it can sit properly horizontally or how about they give us a version which has actual vent holes over the fan like the black face plates you can buy - i swear this is a joke they have not even taken advantage of the power we currently have properly vs throwing another piece of tech - so they have vr and pro pad and then the new pad for streaming - yet the actual base console is designed poor - look up the usb ports and hd ports on the back breaking due to heat out the rear - the console needs a revision but not with power but sleak and less heat etc this is the first gen i have had to buy those face plates with vent holes and a rear fan and also legs so it has clearance for heat - now the ps5 is super cool but should of been designed better with regards to heat and the ports at the back breaking due to heat - sony usually build great tech but the ps5 has been a downgrade - does not look very good looking and over heats and cant even sit properly horizontally as the stand included is trash

[lelo2play]

PS5 Pro or Xbox Series X Pro would delay next gen consoles.
They should release next gen consoles in 2026-2027 and forget about the Pro consoles.

[Einhander1972]

Next gen is just going to be a more powerful console anyways...

[neutralgamer1992]

Have we seen any game take advantage of current consoles? So why do we need even better consoles when developers can’t take advantage of the current ones

[Northpoint]

1st parties will always perform well with the current PS5 but a pro model will allow more improved options and will take advantage of multi-plat/3rd party games.

[PrimeVinister]

Spider-Man Miles Morales in Fidelity Mode was a 9th-gen. spectacle in the early days

Ratchet and Clank looks incredible.

Spider-Man 2 will definitely step it up a bit as well.

[blackblades]

Do we need another one of these articles saying do we need another pro? NO

[Obscure_Observer]

"Probably not but it’s nice to have the option for better looking/performing games and enhanced RT"

Bs propaganda! 4090 can´t even run current gen games at native 4k/30fps! Why would anyone want a new pro console which will most definitely perform even worse than 4080?

[Nintentional]

Switch over here releasing bangers like TotK and Pikmin 4 on something weaker than your smartphone. We don’t need a more powerful Xbox S/X or PS5 (especially since I just barely finally managed to buy one of each). We need developers to bring out more inventive, well crafted, and completed games that are finished on release date the way Nintendo releases their games.

Queue the Sony drones thumbing this down even though it’s correct 😌 👍🏼

[S2Killinit]

I would get a PS5 Pro. But I need a bit more time with my gorgeous PS5.

[fr0sty]

To be able to have PSVR2 feature full native resolution on all titles, 120hz, and options to enable ray tracing, yes, it is needed.

[fr0sty]

PS5 can't even hit 4K 60 on all games, and VR requires that to be rendered twice, once per eye... even with foveated rendering, it still consumes far more resources than PS5 has to offer to do VR at 4K resolution at framerates above 60fps, so you either have to seriously dumb down the graphics to hit native resolution at 90/120fps, or you have to use frame reprojection. PS5 Pro wouldn't even completely eliminate the need for it, but you could probably get away with reprojecting 90fps to 120 instead of 60 to 90.

[crazyCoconuts]

Are all your games 4k/60 without it? No? Then yes.

[ZycoFox]

And 60 isn't even really the gold standard these days. More like silver at best.

[Profchaos]

I doubt they will be 4k 60 with it to

[crazyCoconuts]

You may be right. Would it be worth spending hundreds more dollars to get like 45FPS instead of 30? Lol. That's a good point...

[Vengeance1138]

Can current gen games ALL hit a LOCKED 60 fps? No, very few can. So yes it's needed. 30 FPS games remains the standard even in current gen with these "next gen" machines.

[Profchaos]

I feel most can in performance mode

[Neonridr]

I doubt even the next machines will hit 60fps locked @ 4K.

[Vengeance1138]

Not asking for 4K / 60, but 60 with sub-4K should be the minimum to even justify a Pro console's existence.

[Neonridr]

@Vengeance - yeah that would be nice, the bare minimum should be 60fps with upscaling to 4k if it can't hit natively.

[Destiny1080]

ps4 pro didn't turn 30fps games into 60fps games

from leaks we know microsoft are due to release something new in 2025 and if that's true, sony will probably match anything that microsoft does

[PrimeVinister]

It helped up the rendering resolution and allowed for display of 4K and HDR in quite a few titles though. I think there was a 'turbo' mode that smoothed out games as well. PS4 Pro was a great upgrade, worth it in my opinion.

[Pyrofire95]

PS4 Pro was almost entirely just a GPU upgrade. And so many games would need updates to even go beyond their original limit if the PRO did improve the CPU drastically. At the time it was unheard of to make multiple performance skus for consoles so there was rarely games that would just improve without any further work. Meanwhile it's more common now to have 30 or 60 fps limits and dynamic resolutions so a PS5 Pro would have more opportunities for staying at higher frame rates and resolution.
In short the PS5 is in a different position than the PS4 was and that could potentially mean more benefits for a pro console this time around. (can you believe the PS4 pro was promoted as a 4k console without a 4k bluray drive, come on nintendo.)

[derek]

Microsoft has explicitly said they're not releasing a pro model. They said the s is their base model. Lol

[Joe913]

It is funny you got a disagree you and I are the only ones who actually read about this stuff lol.

[Joe913]

Phil himself said there will be no Xbox pro
https://www.forbes.com/site...

[GoodGuy09]

They're already struggling with some games. But I suppose that's more of the developers at fault as we can see Sony's first party doing completely fine.

[andy85]

Need? Subjective. It's already showing a few of games are struggling to hit 60. I understand why people are annoyed because they've only just got a new console, but it doesn't affect them in the slightest if it exists, they can still play all the games. But as a day one adopter, I'd personally love an option to get some more power. 7-8 years between consoles seems a long time now we've had a taste of a mid-gen upgrade.

[jznrpg]

Xbox can’t even consider a Pro model as the S exists and they won’t be able to use the power of a better console with the last gen Series S. It would hold the new machine back and already holding Series X back.

[sagapo]

Partially agreed: SeriesX gets hold back by SeriesS in terms of features (parity), not graphics.
But I believe MS already stated that the SeriesX was their pro model and there was no need for an upgraded version.
(Which makes me wonder what MS would do if PS came with a pro version 🤔)
I guess we rather see slim models appear than pro models tho imo.

[derek]

If Microsoft hasn't started to build one as they suggest it would take them 4 years to develop it apparently.

[Berenger]

I understand if some don't want it but I would love the option. Since PS2, I have always done a slim refresh before my launch system gets a chance to bite the dust. Stronger hardware when I'm ready for a refresh is an added bonus. Plus, UE5 engine has these games running at 720p upscaled so I welcome it lol

[Stanjara]

Yes!

[isarai]

We've just started abandoning last gen, plus the Rona delays. Honestly I feel like this gen actually needs to be extended. This feels more like we just passed year1 in comparison to what you usually see in every other generation. Just doesn't seem AS necessary as it did last gen when average display resolutions literally quadrupled mid gen

[LonDonE]

this barely anyone has 8k screens

[CrimsonWing69]

No.

I’d personally just like the generation to start before they start throwing out better consoles for the generation.

[Dandalandan117]

Not until Naughty Dog, Santa Monica, and Sucker Punch have released games that was developed optimized exclusively for the PS5.

[purple101]

This comment wins

[hiawa23]

Let's be real, are devs even pushing our current consoles? Options are always welcomed but I am fine with the current Series X and PS5 Digital and don't plan on upgrading.

[northpaws]

Pro model is always about "want", not "need".

I want one.

[Dwarrior]

They'll just push the new hardware too hard again. We'll gain nothing. We'll still have incomplete AND extra-shiny games running at 20fps.

And with the absolutely glacial beginning of this generation, how many truly native-only awesome games do we have?

So, no.

[Aussiesummer]

Of course we do, tech is growing at a rapid speed and consoles need to keep up.

[Profchaos]

I didn't need any convincing to buy a PS4 pro but I will for a ps5 pro especial how this gen feels so stagnant

[HyperMoused]

only if they cut away older gen holding things back

[PhillyDonJawn]

No! By the time it would release. Next gen would be around the corner. This gen took to long to get hot.

[Chocoburger]

We have 120 FPS TVs and monitors, but barely any 120 FPS games. If PS5 Pro focused on allowing us 120 FPS games, then that would be great. If its just resolution and ray tracing only, then it'd be a let-down.

[Pyrofire95]

maybe not. but would I like one? Yeah.

[sagapo]

I believe the price vs the gain with a pro model ain’t worth it if you already own a base model.

[DarXyde]

No.

Knowing present day Sony, they would pull a Ryan-flavored dick move by making backwards compatibility a feature of a pro model.

Seriously, there is doubt PS5 can make it work. Do the right thing, Sony. Your bloody audio hardware in the PS5 is similarly designed to the CELL processor ffs. Be cool.

[anast]

Maybe for the PS5. Spending money on Xbox consoles is a bad idea.

[RedDeadLB]

FYI "next gen" titles are being rendered at 720p and then aggresively upscaled to 4k. Look like shit in motion.

[GotGame818]

No, we are 3 years into this Gen. Let it ride, and hope next gen we actually 100% get what Sony/Microsoft said we'd get this gen. 4K, in game Raytracing, and minimum of 60fps.

Nintendo, get with the damn program. Switch 2 already. It's not a good sign that there hasn't been much of a price drop on the OG yet.

[derek]

No we don't, but I'll be there day 1 for a ps5 pro.

[Neonridr]

I feel like this gen barely got started due to covid and people not being able to get a unit until the last year. Sony releasing an upgrade so soon feels a little greedy IMO.

[ARESWARLORD]

I would like a ps5 pro

[Popsicle]

PS5 Pro yes. Please give me 4K 60 and/or 2 times raytracing.

Series X Pro no. The reason being that the Series S is the base console and I don’t think developers will be able to maintain feature parity between 3 skus.

[Abnor_Mal]

Xbox Series S Pro, maybe?

Spec it up to be just slightly weaker than the Series X, then make a really beefy Series X Pro.

[Zeref]

I will buy a Series X Pro if it comes out. Since I always want the best out of my console.

But I don't feel like we need it. Not like last gen.

[Abnor_Mal]

I’m not going to buy a PS5 Pro for very minor incremental gains. I did that for the PS4 Pro last gen and to be completely honest it here wasn’t a very noticeable difference.

I have my base console and PSVR2, and I’m good for the generation.

[franwex]

We don’t, but bring them on!

[DVAcme]

More than upgrades to either of those, they need to get rid of support for the Series S.

[Babadook7]

"Do We Even Need PS5 Pro or Xbox Series X Pro?"

Gaming is a want and not a need. Obviously some will want them and find them worth the upgrade. I will buy one, and all that is needed to convince me is a noticeable boost in PSVR2 graphics.