In retrospect should Sony have given the PS4 Pro better specs for a higher price?

[BoxManLocke]

This is basically the same debate that we're carrying into next gen.

Would I pay more for a more powerful console ? Totally.

Would it make sense business-wise ? I don't think so.

Pro continued Sony's trend of an affordable console that packed a punch, and it was the right call when looking at the sales trajectory in the last couple of years.

The X was about aiming towards the enthusiast market, which made a lot more sense considering Microsoft's position.

Mainly I don't get the "Microsoft was able to do that, so Sony should too" argument. It's been clear for years that they don't have the same business strategy anymore.

 

[BoxManLocke]

dp

 

[Josh5890]

I wish it had a 4K/UHD drive. I've been starting to collect those discs but I don't want to shell out for a player because the PS5 next year will (hopefully) have one.

 

[El Bombastico]

How would it have benefited them to do this exactly? Better compete against Microsoft? The XBX did fuck all to help MS sell a meaningful amount of more units this gen. I guess maybe for more goodwill for the fans, but they already earn enough of that with just making good exclusives and PSN not getting hacked on a routine basis anymore (that we know of)...

 

[RestEerie]

maybe timing wise should have waited till all those 4K tvs have evolved to get rid of those hdmi handshake problems but price wise, $399 is the perfect pricing.

 

[____]

They don't need to be. Most people don't care and they can still be great games at 30fps.

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This is true.

Anecdotal, but I've been gaming for 25+ years and to this day still can't tell (nor do I care about) the difference in 30 vs 60fps.

Not a single gamer I know in real life cares or can tell either. In fact, I just explained the concept to my brother and friend that I game with as we were watching a Fortnite streamer that had 240fps at the top of his screen and they asked what it meant. They "understood" the concept after I explained it but I can't say it moved the needle in terms of anything outside of "oh.. never knew that *shrug*".

That's not to be dismissive of higher FPS, especially on an enthusiast board, but as consumers...the reality is the vast majority of us just don't care.

 

[jroc74]

Do they have to be to prove the PS4/Pro are compotent machines capable of playing cutting edge games?

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Console warriors are coming out to play. Best to just ignore them.

 

[Chasing]

It's hard to say because the Pro as it is was undeniably a success. I think either way it went, giving consumers a premium version option was the right business decision. Personally, I feel like I wouldn't have minded at all if they pushed it a bit further, it's an enthusiasts device and I'd still pay for the extra power boost.

 

[DrDeckard]

Pro needs better/faster ram. Much improved cooling. Lots of issues.

So yeah. Either needed a better more thought out design or a little more investment to hit the right specs.

 

[Decarb]

They seen a $500 beefed up console can sell well the Xbox One X so likely they will next time instead of doing $400 again

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Is it selling well though? It also hasn't been $500 for a while now outside of rare special editions.

 

[cowbanana]

They couldn't even get it right with its current specs. Worst piece of garbage system I've owned. The ridiculous jet engine cooling is trash. Imagine how they'd struggle with higher specs.

This "premium" console feels like the worst budget tier garbage I've owned.

 

[Deleted member 8593]

For Sony it definitely was the right choice as its sales prove but personally, I haven't seen the need to upgrade.

 

[oni_gank]

I am sure that the current specs (PS4 Pro) are profitable enough.

Should Nintendo release much better specs of N-Switch Pro with a higher price?

 

[Raonak]

Nah, its a good balance of power and price, plus having a 2016 launch meant that Pro buyers, like me, are happy to jump into PS5 on launch.

Both these consoles are mostly just GPU upgrades anyway, and both heavily rely on checkerboarding.

 

[White Glint]

It should have been so much better. Not only specced a bit higher but also support 4k bluray and have better thermals and noise levels.

Mine is probably less noisy than most (still goes pretty wild in Dreams for example) and I've had good times with the thing but there are ways in which it feels like a worse product than the original PS4 which really shouldn't be the case with your high-end offering.

 

[bulletyen]

Would I have wanted that? Yes, of course, I spend my time on a video game forum after all. Should they have done it? No.

I would say both companies played their hands pretty well. Of course, we can never know if there was a better solution out there, but as for the ones we have, I imagine Sony and Microsoft are both fairly satisfied.

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But yes, if the PS4 Pro was more powerful and more expensive even less people would have bought it, and what would be the point of that? It's not like the specs would have served anymore more than last gen games on base consoles...

(secretly, this is also my argument against people with stupidly powerful top end PCs... so much of your game design and graphical features will forever be locked to mid range specs at best, the lowest common denominator at worst, minimal improvement at hundreds and hundreds of dollars more so why bother? Guess if you have money to burn...)

 

[Peek-a-boo!]

The Xbox One X certainly went through a more thought out process than the PS4 Pro did, and I would have liked to have seen what this second option was rumoured to be, but at the end of the day, both consoles are held back by the Jaguar chip and I honestly think that outside of resolution, the majority of first party games are more impressive (to look at) on the PS4 Pro than what you see on the Xbox One X.

PS4 Pro came along at the right time, in the middle of the generation and at a compelling price point, whereas the Xbox One X was a year late, $100 more and didn't have any first party games to truly show off its power until the likes of Forza Horizon 4 and Gears 5 came along.

My only two complaints with the PS4 Pro is the fan noise in God of War, and that beam of light that I don't particularly wish to see when I am playing a game or watching a Blu-ray film at nighttime.

 

[Deleted member 17952]

It depends on your definition of "well" cause if you follow sales era you would be aware that the pro has been selling significant more than the X from the jump. Especially this year Xbox hardware revenue has dropped by 48% last quarter while PS4 was about flat at a 2% increase.


Since day 1.


We had NPD numbers leaks up on till about 3 months ago. The hardware numbers imply the PS4 including the pro is selling more than the booths SKU of the Xboxes. This year is selling especially. And that's just in the states. Worldwide numbers heavily favours the PS4 and the pro.

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We know that the PS4 family is selling more, but we don't actually get a breakdown, so it's good to hear directly from someone with info the confirmation of what we all intuitively know is correct but don't have the numbers for.

 

[Dictator]

PS4pro has weak bandwidth and we have heard multiple devs say that it underperforms as a result - its GPU is capable of more. It is "unbalanced" for sure and I think they should have released it with better mem bandwidth.

 

[Deleted member 17952]

PS4pro has weak bandwidth and we have heard multiple devs say that it underperforms as a result - its GPU is capable of more. It is "unbalanced" for sure and I think they should have released it with better mem bandwidth.

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Is that even possible without changing the CPU?

 

[Putty]

Does what it needs to do at the price point Sony wanted. Is it perfect? No. Is anything perfect? No. We are still over a year out from PS5, and base PS4 games are already struggling on newer titles...IMO Sony releasing when they did was a wise choice.

 

[Tortahegesztő]

Better spec? No.
Better cooling? Absolutely.

 

[KeRaSh]

Comparing the Pro and the X1X in retrospect I'm glad they didn't bump the Pro specs and slap a higher price on it because I don't think the difference is worth the extra money. That extra 100€ can go towards next gen.

 

[ffvorax]

No, it's ok like this.
Only complain: the noise level.
They shold consider a new cooling system less noisy for the PS5. It really is a problem....

 

[YolkFolk]

I remember before the Pro was unveiled there were rumors that Sony was considering going with higher specs than the 4.2TF that was rumored at the time and that we got in the box. IIRC the rumored specs of the more powerful box would have been in the area of 5.7TF, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Of course we will never know how true the rumor was or what the likely price would have been, but do you think they should have aimed for those specs?

Let's say they were able to deliver 5.7TF and a UHD Blu-ray drive in the Pro for an extra $100 for a MSRP of $499, how do you think that would have changed things, if at all?

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It wouldn't have changed things at all in terms of the overall outcome of Sony being way ahead of Microsoft.

The X will likely not ever come close to the sales of the Pro. The only thing that would have brought the X a bit closer would have been if the Pro was more expensive.

 

[headspawn]

I would've loved more RAM at least to accommodate higher resolution textures.

 

[DanSensei]

Honestly, they should've went really high specs for like $699. I see so many people wanting these insane specs for insane prices, so indulge them. People like me can keep our original PS4s and everybody's happy. They could even delay PS5 a couple years if they went that route.

 

[vivftp]

Honestly, they should've went really high specs for like $699. I see so many people wanting these insane specs for insane prices, so indulge them. People like me can keep our original PS4s and everybody's happy. They could even delay PS5 a couple years if they went that route.

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The problem is that insanely spec'd machine would be held back by the base console so games would not get a chance to truly push the hardware.

 

[TetraGenesis]

But yes, if the PS4 Pro was more powerful and more expensive even less people would have bought it, and what would be the point of that? It's not like the specs would have served anymore more than last gen games on base consoles...

(secretly, this is also my argument against people with stupidly powerful top end PCs... so much of your game design and graphical features will forever be locked to mid range specs at best, the lowest common denominator at worst, minimal improvement at hundreds and hundreds of dollars more so why bother? Guess if you have money to burn...)

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Did you........................................................................................................ not read the sentence literally right after?

EDIT: Oh wait, you're agreeing with me hahahaha. Sorry 😅 Reading comprehension, what's that?

 

[Deleted member 4413]

Considering it can't do 4k and doesn't even have a 4k disc drive, yes they should have gone the $499 route. As it is I barely even see it as a mid gen refresh. I use it to play a couple exclusives and that's it.

 

[Devilgunman]

Hell nah. It was at the right price and it's still performing very well.

 

[Zok310]

$399, or less is more important. People that want more likely already on PC, only thing that would make them consider a ps4 would be exclusives.

 

[Elandyll]

Right timing and price, allowing it to (afaik) outsell the X easily.
A better cooling, or so I read, would have been great though.
I was also doubting the wisdom of not including a 4K drive at launch, but given how things are going, seems they were right, specially if it would have bumped the price up.

 

[CopyOfACopy]

would have liked a UHD Drive, give me an excuse to upgrade my old ass Sony HDTV **hint hint**wink wink**

 

[Turbo Tu-Tone]

No. They hit a sweet spot for the specs and price. Enticed enough ppl to pay a little bit more and get better performance for it to the benefit of both parties. They were absolutely smart to stay away from any "last gen" price they had, and that's how it should be going forward.

 

[Duxxy3]

They shouldn't have released it.

edit: I'm against all mid gen systems.

 

[halfjoey]

The price point was good for me. Re-sale value on the base PS4 was enough for me to justify upgrading to the PS4 Pro.

HD blue and greater specs would have been nice but at $500 I might not have made the upgrade.

 

[Deleted member 40102]

Nah ps4 pro is gine

 

[Andromeda]

I believe the pro was designed for their first party developers first. And I think as such it accomplished its goal. The best looking games on console are on Pro some even targeting 60fps like Shadow of the Colossus or God of War.

And oddly many multi-platforms games perform the best on Pro (like RDR2, a few COD games, Kingdom Heart 3 or Ace Combat 7 but there are many more), because I think it may actually be the most balanced machine: CPU OK for the 'modest' mid-gen GPU and the highest pixel fillrate which is very important if you want a stable framerate during hectic conditions (explosions, smoke, etc.). And often developers tend to be reasonable with their target resolutions and framerate is more stable on the Sony machine.

Pro main problem is the lack of bandwidth but I read bandwidth is one of the most unoptimized aspect of games. Which is why the lack of bandwidth is not seen on most Sony games (resolution of Pro games scale correctly with the GPU with even more details and usually a more stable framerate even at 4K CBR), particularly when those games correctly use the custom hardware, like ID Buffer, FP16 and others exotic stuff.

So I think in the end Sony were about right with their hardware choices. The real problem of the Pro is the noise....

 

[Sprat]

That implies that the Pro is selling better than the XBX then?

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Of course it is. The last official update said it was 20% of all ps4 sales from release.

 

[Mollymauk]

I believe the pro was designed for their first party developers first. And I think as such it accomplished its goal. The best looking games on console are on Pro some even targeting 60fps like Shadow of the Colossus or God of War.

And oddly many multi-platforms games perform the best on Pro (like RDR2, a few COD games, Kingdom Heart 3 or Ace Combat 7 but there are many more), because I think it may actually be the most balanced machine: CPU OK for the 'modest' mid-gen GPU and the highest pixel fillrate which is very important if you want a stable framerate during hectic conditions (explosions, smoke, etc.). And often developers tend to be reasonable with their target resolutions and framerate is more stable on the Sony machine.

Pro main problem is the lack of bandwidth but I read bandwidth is one of the most unoptimized aspect of games. Which is why the lack of bandwidth is not seen on most Sony games (resolution of Pro games scale correctly with the GPU with even more details and usually a more stable framerate even at 4K CBR), particularly when those games correctly use the custom hardware, like ID Buffer, FP16 and others exotic stuff.

So I think in the end Sony were about right with their hardware choices. The real problem of the Pro is the noise....

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Since when does RDR2 perform best on pro? Literally no one thinks that.

 

[Martinski]

Yeah they kinda cheaped out, especially compared to the One X. The X is more premium in pretty much every aspect apart from being much beefier.

Feels like Sony Couldve made better effort when it comes to build quality, thermals, UHD Blu-ray etc.

I have currently both a Pro ( the "quiet" new sku) and a X. And I also don't get why no first party titles such as Bloodborne, Uncharted and so on gets a Pro enchancements. Say what you will about XBOX game studios but their continued support for older titles are also much better. Even updating 360 games with X enhancements.

 

[Sprat]

Yeah they kinda cheaped out, especially compared to the One X. The X is more premium in pretty much every aspect apart from being much beefier.

Feels like Sony Couldve made better effort when it comes to build quality, thermals, UHD Blu-ray etc.

I have currently both a Pro ( the "quiet" new sku) and a X. And I also don't get why no first party titles such as Bloodborne, Uncharted and so on gets a Pro enchancements. Say what you will about XBOX game studios but their continued support for older titles are also much better. Even updating 360 games with X enhancements.

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Uncharted 4 & lost legacy both have pro support.

The Nathan Drake collection doesn't but that's because bluepoint did it and it's on them to do it and with bloodborne that is up to from.

Sony can't do anything about either

 

[Martinski]

Uncharted 4 & lost legacy both have pro support.

The Nathan Drake collection doesn't but that's because bluepoint did it and it's on them to do it and with bloodborne that is up to from.

Sony can't do anything about either

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Yeah but the X does upgrades even for third party games. So that point is kinda moot?

Weren't aware that Uncharted 4 got an upgrade tho.

 

[Sprat]

Yeah but the X does upgrades even for third party games. So that point is kinda moot?

Weren't aware that Uncharted 4 got an upgrade tho.

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It was there shortly after launch.

Aren't they only on BC games though? That makes sense as they have to be modified and repackaged to run.

Have they done any on current gen games?

 

[Martinski]

It was there shortly after launch.

Aren't they only on BC games though? That makes sense as they have to be modified and repackaged to run.

Have they done any on current gen games?

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Yes a bunch like Doom, Fallout 4, Diablo 3 reaper of souls and so on.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_One_X_enhanced_games

 

[Sprat]

Yes a bunch like Doom, Fallout 4, Diablo 3 reaper of souls and so on.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_One_X_enhanced_games

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I don't see where it says Microsoft themselves did the patches.

I know fallout 4 is definitely missing on pro.

Doom & diablo are also pro capable.

It's all definitely a curious situation.

Far messier than anyone would like.

The only ps4 games that annoyed me that never got patched were Driveclub and Persona 5.

 

[endlessflood]

The Pro as it released would have been the way to go if they'd included a UHD Blu-ray Drive, and if the PS5 was releasing this year. With the extra year until PS5, it needed to be a better spec.

And why doesn't it have a UHD Blu-Ray Drive? That still shits me.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Still no clue why it doesn't have 4K blu-ray support. Only missing feature I think it needed even at the time.

 

[DetectiveKenobi]

The PS4 Pro not having an UHD player delayed me getting by one year. If it had an UHD player I would have gotten it at launch. I think that year I ended up not getting much on Black Friday because all my PS4 Pro funds were diverted to 4k Blurays/Steelbooks.
That was the year I started migrating my collection to 4k and buying 4k Blurays instead of the 3D's/Regular packs.