For a long time, games looked like shit. You’d see a little blip on screen shooting tiny white pellets out and smacking into other blips and have to piece together from the box art what the hell you’re looking at. Over time graphics improved to the point where games look so gorgeous it’s unlikely your device is even maxing out their potential visual grandeur unless you spent a ton of money on the latest graphics card or spent some time researching the most optimal combination of settings. On the bright side, graphics are so good people don’t really care anymore. I know I don’t have the best equipment but the games I play run smooth enough and still look better than anything I had growing up. Apart from my old ass, this sentiment appears to be spreading though based on the massive pushback for the recently announced Playstation 5 Pro.
The Internet was on fire in the gaming space after Sony asked consumers to fork over $700 to obtain the new Playstation 5 Pro which promises higher fidelity and smoother frame rates. Technically. However when you’re looking at promotional footage side by side many people claim to not even see a difference. Those that do see a difference argue it ain’t worth the price. Honestly I completely understand the hesitation and this seems like a totally tone deaf release by Sony. Right now everyone is hating two things: price inflation and AAA games that prioritize generic, clean graphics over an unique artstyle paired with a fresh vision. I understand that this is par for the course. There’s always some Playstation (Number here) (New version name here) model that drops a few years after the prior big release. But to my knowledge it usually doesn’t debut along with such a massive price increase. Especially when that increase is “justified” by a poignant demonstration of the concept of diminishing returns as it relates to the development of graphics.
Wait, AI-Driven Upscaling? Okay, now I'm sold.
Based on the feedback it wouldn’t surprise me if sales are low for this bad boy. I hope people actually put their money where their mouth is and in this case slap that $700 right back into their pocket, or even consider buying… you know… actual games to play with that payload. A lot of times outrage doesn’t correlate to a true decline in sales but with a high priced device that fails to offer much in the way of new features or performance… perhaps Sony will receive the message. Did you hear about the reaction to the Playstation 5 Pro? Were you planning on picking one up or skipping it? Are graphical innovations still exciting to you as a gamer? Grab a controller, turn on your Playstation 5 Amateur, and fetch a microscope to spot the differences in the comments below!
