Update: Digital Foundry recently posted a breakdown on these rumored PS5 PRo specs and cited that big upcoming releases like GTA6 likely will not hit 60FPS on the PS5 Pro. Full breakdown of the specs can be found on their website, in addition to IGN’s reporting on GTA6
Sony’s PlayStation 5 has been on the market since Holiday 2020, garnering strong sales and having quality exclusives like Spider-Man 2 and Final Fantasy XVI supporting such success. With hardware sales waning and evolving technology, new hardware was inevitable. Recent reports indicate that not only is a PlayStation 5 Pro releasing later in 2024, but a full spec-breakdown has come out from insiders.
The Super PlayStation 5 – Spec Breakdown
Shared via MoresLawIsDead, a full spec breakdown has been leaked, with both Insider Gaming and Verge backing up the information.
Rendering 45% faster than PS5
2-3x Ray-tracing (x4 in some cases)
33.5 Teraflops
PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution Upscaling) upscaling/antialiasing solution
Support for resolutions up to 8K is planned for future SDK version
Custom machine learning architecture
AI Accelerator, supporting 300 TOPS of 8 bit computation / 67 TFLOPS of 16-bit floating point
Specs Explained for PlayStation 5 Pro
Even though I myself not the most tech savvy, it’s clear that these specs imply a far more powerful PlayStation 5. The most important aspects of the PlayStation 5 Pro seemingly will be built-in support for AI and powerful upscaling. As games releasing demand more for the ever desired 60 frames per second, lower resolutions are a big help in ensuring that. And when paired with a powerful upscaler, it could very well streamline optimization for PlayStation 5 releases.
The AI support being built-into the machine will be important going into the future. AI is a learning beast, allowing the PlayStation 5 Pro to potentially evolve without users needing to buy additional hardware. And when the economic situation is ever changing, that could be a major boon for sales.
The X-Factor – Major Releases
Make no mistake, releases like Grand Theft Auto VI will drive PS5 Pro sales. Looking at the record-breaking numbers the first trailer alone garnered, there is an audience. And if you offer said audience the only 60FPS version of the game? That alone could sell PlayStation’s.
In addition, with Microsoft bringing their games over to PlayStation platforms, there is the genuine possibility a first party Xbox game will run better on the rival console. Potential games that could take advantage of a PS5 Pro include Starfield and possibly even Hellblade 2, assuming Microsoft decides to bring those over. With games like Sea of Thieves having high pre-order sales and 2023’s critically acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush currently reviewing better on PlayStation than Xbox, PlayStation users clearly are expressing interest in these releases.
And that doesn’t take into account Sony’s own offerings. Timed Exclusives like the Final Fantasy series and full-on first party titles like a Ghost of Tsushima 2 and the announced Wolverine could leverage the tech in a PlayStation 5 Pro to great effect.
Does Frame Rate Matter That Much? – Overall Thoughts
Personally speaking, as someone who greatly enjoyed both FFXVI and Spider-Man 2 at 30FPS without issue, people overstate the value of 60FPS. Make no mistake, a higher frame rate is always preferable, more so than others for specific genres. But the highest rated games, like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Tears of the Kingdom launched at 30FPS and did record-breaking numbers for their respective launches.
And current-gen releases like Starfield showed that even with a 30FPS cap, you can have responsive controls for action-focused adventures. May we also remember, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One generation released many games at 30FPS, with games still launching on those consoles at that performance target to this day.
Most importantly, data indicates that mid-gen console’s don’t hit sales targets their base models get. The PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X were only modest successes when compared to their base counterparts.
We will report further as the story develops. What do you think about this rumor? Do you think the PlayStation 5 Pro is needed? Let us know in the comments below!
