Sony Suggests PS5 Might Get Mid-Gen Upgrade Similar to PS4 Pro - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 02 July 2020 / 5,008 Views
Sony and Microsoft released upgraded versions of their PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The improved hardware was designed to extend the lifespan of the current generation and catch up to the technology seen in PCs. The PS4 and Xbox One at launch quickly fell behind the pace of the advances in technology.
Executive Vice President of Hardware Engineering and Operation at Sony Interactive Entertainment Masayasu Ito speaking with GameInformer in an interview said that the life cycles for console sare getting shorter as technology continues to advance. The PlayStation 4 Pro was a "test case," according to Ito, hinting that the PlayStation 5 might get a similar mid-generation upgrade.
"Indeed, in the past, the cycle for a new platform was 7 to 10 years, but in view of the very rapid development and evolution of technology, it’s really a six to seven year platform cycle," said Ito.
"Then we cannot fully catch up with the rapid development of the technology, therefore our thinking is that as far as a platform is concerned for the PS5, it’s a cycle of maybe six to seven years. But doing that, a platform lifecycle, we should be able to change the hardware itself and try to incorporate advancements in technology.
"That was the thinking behind it, and the test case of that thinking was the PS4 Pro that launched in the midway of the PS4 launch cycle."
Thanks GamingBolt.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I'll still pre-order the PS5 regardless because I take advantage of trade promotions and did so with my PS4 PRO that I only paid $125CAD at launch and if I paid cash it would have been $565CAD. People need to learn what trade promotions that businesses are running because they don't always tell you all of them. EB Games Canada has been running the same trade promotion since the launch of the PS4 of trade in 3 games of a minimum trade value of $10 and get $79.99 towards any new release title within 2 weeks of launch. I've gotten at least 300 pre-ordered PS4 games that would have cost over $23,000CAD and have only paid just over $3500CAD based on what I paid for the games that it took to trade in for those promotions.
Hopefully if they're already planning it, the PS5 pro will see a power increase on the scale of of how Xbox did it. Ps4 to ps4 pro was pretty lackluster.
I'm not opposed to this idea in principle but it does make me feel even more hesitant to buy a PS5 at launch...
As someone who wasnt planning on day one adopting any next gen systems, this 100% validates me.
Why would I spend $400,maybe more, on a product that could be obsolete or outdated in a year or two's time? I'm not falling for the buy the same system with slight changes scam again.
If i buy a console for a gen, i can only afford 1. So based on your said, if i decide to buy one,- it would over halfway through the console cycle when the price has fallen.
But as you said, it's a trap. So I may not be getting any version of the console. Do you see why I'm not exactly pleased by this announcement yet?
This sounds more like the flood gates for yearly updates have been opened than a simple mid gen refresh.
It makes absolute sense with the current state of the CPU/GPU market and development tools. Everything is being built around scalability. Platform holders can take advantage of evolving technologies to earn more profits on hardware, and core gamers get the oppertunity to buy into new technology at their own pace.
This is what I have been waiting for for almost two decades. It has been the plan since PS3 went into development, but things did not pan out with Cell. Now the tech and dev tools are ready, and we can finally have more choices in the console space. Great news!
The problem is that multiports are good to compare. Then you can see how strong or weak a console is (or how lazy the developer). It's not such a big thing with console exclusives, which are usually very optimized for the system. If we only would have console exclusives a mid-gen upgrade would not be that necessary.
Terrible. Timing. With. This. Statement.
No. It. Is. Not.
@Bandorr, Ask that question to the millions of people who are STILL buying PS4s in its sixth year, or the millions of people who are gonna buy a Switch next year instead of waiting a couple of years more for the Switch 2.
Ok, this is kinda bad news actually. This pretty much almost guarantees to me that the PS5 still won't be running games at 60 fps. I mean, what else would really be needed to upgrade at this point? 8K perhaps?
That is always the case. It wouldn't matter if PS5 was a Million Dollar device with Multiple CPU's/GPU's, TB's of Storage and RAM. Developers always decide how their game performs.
That said, ideally going forward, we should have more options. 1080p is still a very viable resolution. There is no reason devs can not offer quality and performance modes on PS5. Next gen console will be fully capable of something like this:
Game Targeting 4K/30
Quality Mode - 4K/30
Balanced Mode - 1440p/60 - 90
Perfomance - 1080p/90 - 120
Game Targeting 4K/60
Quality Mode - 4K/60
Balanced Mode - 1440P/90 - 120
Performance Mode - 1080p/120+
With variable refresh rate being a stansard in next gen consoles and televisions, this should be a very easy thing to implement.
So he's basically saying that people shouldn't buy the PS5 at launch. Alrighty then.
I'm against the practice of mid generational upgrades in general - it splits the playerbase and leads to more unoptimised games.
Well i people are fine with not playing PS5 games for at least 3 years...
And well so far i can play all games on my original PS4. No splitting in userbase whatsoever.
And if you want to play "unoptimised" games then play the last generations of PS3, Xbox 360, PS2 or Xbox. All systems which had no mid-gen upgrades.
@GaoGaiGarV You are correct on your first point - if people are not willing to wait, then this is a purchasing decision they'd have to make.
Being able to play all the games doesn't mean that the user base is not split. One part of the players are getting an inferior version of the game just because they are early adopters. There were also a couple of examples where games ran better on the Pro like Battlefield 4, which gave people with Pro an advantage in multiplayer.
Can't speak for the Xbox 360, but neither the PS3 nor the PS2 had mid generational upgrades similar to the Pro with an obvious power difference. They had slim models with more HDD space, but that was about it.
I don't think he should have said that. Even if that was their very intention. He pretty much kept fence sitters on the fence until the "Pro" versions are available.
Fence sitter: "Oh i wait until PS4 gets cheaper. Oh i wait until PS4 Pro comes out. Oh i wait until PS5 releases. Oh i wait until PS5 Pro......"
You get the point. Fence sitters are no viable target audience.
At first this made a lot of sense, but thinking about it more, why stop there? Might as well wait for the PS6 BC then. Getting the OG would allow you to have the most powerful version for a few years followed by the lesser version for a few years. Waiting for the Pro would mean having an old console for a few years followed by the most powerful version for a few years. I feel like your post makes sense in a closed system... but the cycle continues. New consoles keep coming out, so in the end whether you continually adopt mid-gen or early-gen, you're still only staying on top half the time.
Wow getting thumbed down for making a valid point. Hmm....
@RaptorChrist I feel like you got where I was coming from. My point IS....why would I, as a developer/manufacturer, forecast a "better/upgraded" version of a product that hasn't been released yet. Fence sitters are either won't care about the new upgrade, or they will. The latter is whom I was referring to. I get what all of you are saying, but this is reality scenario in a market like this (except for Nintendo). It isn't the norm yet like an upgraded IPhone or anything. This isn't how I would personally go about it. I would still get a PS5 at launch. He could have just waited like always and just announced a pro version months from the original announcement. I digress though.
Anyway...I appreciate the post fellas.
If he said it or not, its obvious that next generation will have mid gen upgrades regardless.
I don't think that is the case. With every aspect of the pipeline being refined around scalability, having yearly updates becomes a viable model. They can increase the performance across all aspects by say 10 - 15% per year. Better load times, larger Storage, improved ray tracing, new USB/HDMI/Bluetooth/Wifi/Cellular standards.
New consumers coming into the platform will get a device with current tech, and the hardcore gamers can update as they see fit. Some would upgrade yearly, others would wait for something significant like 4K - 8K.
This will give Sony a chance to both increase the profit on Hardware by selling to some consumers as often as once a year, and also help expand the userbase/engagement numbers as people either end up with a 2nd system, trade it in, or gift there previous unit.
Major leaps would still occur every 6 - 7 years as they leap to completely new CPU/GPU generations. I believe that is the map forward. Yearly updates moving to Zen3/RDNA2, Zen4/RDNA3, Zen5/RDNA4, and then a new generation with the successors of Zen/RDNA.
If there was no Pro then you would have to stick with the original model for 7 to 8 years with a potential lesser experience. Remember the last days of PS3 and Xbox 360 with their horribly performing games. Wouldn't it rather be a good thing to have at least the OPTION to upgrade to a more powerful Pro version?
