To be fair aren’t consoles planned like 3-5 years before it launches?
It makes some of PC exclusions dumb. I know some took Sony deals like RIse of Ronin , but something like Unicorn Overlord should’ve launched on PC
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RoR was at least a publishing deal so understandable. Unicorn is a uniquely confusing decision, already made on Xbox so at least a MS store version would’ve been nearly effortless like what’s the hold up? and then there’s Square who already have big IPs but decide to be exclusive to the platform they already were selling the most to, so virtually 0 growth in fanbase there and if anything there’s decline… FF7 would be Elden Ring level phenomenon if it’s a simultaneous multiplatform release, I bet.
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Yeah but as I mentioned, usually companies don’t admit that, particularly not for upgraded models.
New generations they can admit it, but no one wants to think they’re buying something the manufacturer already has a better version of in the works right now.
It feels like a fumble as by being open about it, they open themselves up to questions about whether they held back the PS5 a bit (for example could it have had upscaling?) in order to make the Pro more of a leap.
It’s also a bit ironic as it means both Xbox and PlayStation were planning two consoles - but only Xbox will get bad press for it about the Series S, even if base PS5 versions of games now often end up unoptimised as “you can get 60fps on the Pro if it’s that important”
I don’t think anyone cares, if anything people want to know the box they are spending 700 on had a lot of work and investment put into it.
There is a 5 year gap in the tech, there was no holding back of key tech like upscaling. If it was available it would have been in their competitors box.
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I find the Pro arguments and back and forth useless, from the ones opposing or championing it. It’s a $200 more power upgrade, of course it will play games better. I don’t think it’s such an offensive offering, and I don’t think it’s any game changer either. NO, PC gamers will not flock to buy it, whoever said that lmao, but it’s an upgrade to the enthusiasts who are willing to pay for it. Out of many things to complain about, I really don’t think the Pro is worth so much discussion. That is, unless they start making performance modes (in first party games) exclusive to Pro… I don’t know if that’s something they’d do, but I won’t be totally surprised.
The Series X did have some tensor-like functions using the shader cores, added to it to try and facilitate machine learning / upscaling - it just doesn’t seem to have been used much except maybe by FSR:
“The result is that Series X offers 49 TOPS for 8-bit integer operations and 97 TOPS for 4-bit integer operations. Note that the weights are integers, so those are TOPS and not TFLOPs. The net result is that Series X offers unparalleled intelligence for machine learning”
Source:
I think it’s a whatever. Like Microsoft said the Xbox One X was planned like 3-5 years before it launched. They also said they’re working on their next gen console 1-2 years ago. I don’t think most care, and it’s just a whatever thing because it’s expected for console manufactuers to start the process 3-5 years before it’s released .
Would ya’ll have bought a mid gen refresh Xbox if it was the same price as Pro? I’m honestly not sure, I probably would have waited to see some results first.
800 euros is goddamn much money.
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Yep but it’s more the marketing faux pas for me - we’re taught Sony are masters at it, yet given the anger around the Pro price it just feels like a comment that Jim Ryan (however much he was disliked) wouldn’t have made as it feeds into the anger of base PS5 owners.
For me the whole Pro thing shows Sony just aren’t as slick as they were - I was literally the target market, someone who favours image quality over everything else and spends a lot on gaming, yet they made it such a silly price for such little improvement.
Enthusiasts were the target market, but other than the ones who worship PlayStation like a cult most have the skills to get a better experience elsewhere - either being able to build PCs themselves or have friends who can.
For less than twice the price it’s possible to have 4 times the performance with an Nvidia setup, or a better performance for the same price with an AMD one.
It just feels a big misfire that’s pissed off base PS5 owners (with messaging from Sony not helping) while likely doing poorly with enthusiasts beyond the hardcore PS fanboys who can get better elsewhere…
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No way. Xbox One X actually felt like it was correcting a power deficit in the original Xbox One. I don’t think that’s the case with the Series X. Not only do I not need a mid-gen refresh, I hope we have a nice long cross-gen period so I can hold on to my current Series X as long as possible. I just don’t feel the need for an upgrade.
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Not for that kind of money no, but a decently priced 1TB one with better ray tracing, definitely.
And if they had, Xbox would be getting slammed for now giving developers 3 target SKUs to work with - and as they haven’t, some media has been pushing the “well they’re doing too shit to have a Pro model anyway” - so either way they couldn’t win.
To be honest the Series X does a hell of a job - some games like Flight Sim and Hellblade 2 I’ve literally not been able to see the difference between it and a full-on gaming PC
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YEah, I would somewhat consider it if I can trade in my PS5 and only pay like $200, but in my case it would cost $600 after PS5 trade in to get a pro. That’s a hell no for me haha. At that point I would be better off building a gaming PC. The idea of the pro isn’t bad, but i think execution is not for me. I wouldn’t mind if they have an enthusiast console at launch, but that would never happen
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No, I think I would rather upgrade my GPU than buy a marginally better system that I already own.
This is where I land as well. It’s a device that’s an option for those that want a little more out of their games and it’s not meant to be a replacement for the base system. The price isn’t worth it for me personally, but there are a lot of people that have money to burn and to them it makes sense. Ultimately the market will dictate whether this ends up working for Sony or not. I honestly couldn’t care any less about it or the arguments around it. 
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I need one for Metaphor to be honest.
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Surprised there isn’t considering they were marketing it
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