There was scepticism prior to the release of the PlayStation 4 Pro, but the mid-gen hardware revision – along with the Xbox One X – has ended up being a success. Sony’s supercharged console hasn’t held back the base model in any way – it’s merely allowed those seeking greater performance to benefit from the added horsepower of the beefier box. And speaking with MCVUK magazine, European marketing boffin Warwick Light admitted that the refresh has been a hit.
“In enabling the community to upgrade mid-lifecycle it has allowed our most engaged players an even more immersive experience that complements the latest advancements in TV technology,” he said. “We’ve found that around one in five PS4s sold has been a PS4 Pro since it launched and around 40 per cent of these have been from existing players upgrading so it’s definitely having a positive impact on the industry as well as on our players.”
Of course all of this has implications on the next generation as well, as it seems likely now that the PlayStation 5 will receive multiple iterations throughout the course of its lifecycle. Does that mean that more people will be willing to wait to upgrade? It’s going to be interesting to see how things and play out, and Sony will need to get its communication right from the offset.
[source issuu.com, via wccftech.com]
Comments 55
Exactly the reason why I'll wait at least 2 years into the PS5's life cycle before I buy into next generation. I was tempted by Pro early on, but unless something goes drastically wrong with my 2015 PS4, I'm happy to wait to upgrade.
"Sony’s supercharged console hasn’t held back the base model in any way"
tell that to players on base systems whose had some games running worse after mandatory and forced "Pro" updates
when the Pro first came out quite a few games suffered and continue to suffer on base systems after 4K assets were added regardless of if you had a Pro or not, that's why they should be OPTIONAL downloads from PSN
@FullbringIchigo What games are those? My understanding is that updates for PS4 Pro don't even affect the base model as the code knows not to run those alterations.
@get2sammyb probably the best example is FFXV, when it first came out it ran pretty well bar the odd issue and the shadows of course but after the "Pro" update the game is full of texture and asset pop in that was never there before, longer load times AND the seamless open world where you could drive round the entire thing without seeing a single load screen can now just stop and load at random times
there is even one town that wont load at all unless your actually IN it, the whole thing pops up around you
@NintendoFan4Lyf Absolutely. Really hope this will be the approach next-gen, it would make such a difference. I'd definitely go for the more expensive model too, but I'd rather know up front than find out at a time where I can't justify the extra expense (ie. PS4 Pro).
Really looking forward to seeing what Sony has in store with the PS5. I tried out a friend's PS4 Pro with my 4k TV recently and honestly I didn't see a huge difference with the current PS4, which is why I never bothered upgrading. If it had a 4k blu ray player though, I would have been on board for sure.
@FullbringIchigo What forced Pro updates? Im lucky i guess never had problems.
@FullbringIchigo that did not happened to me at all. All that happenned is that the game struggled to hit 60fps, but base ps4 version remained unchanged.
@FullbringIchigo So it sounds like a terrible job at Square Enix still no problems here. 😁
@Flaming_Kaiser Pro 4K assets were added to some games via updates when the Pro first came out but they were mandatory, now it's not an issue at all but in the early days some games did suffer from problems with mandatory 4K updates
honestly the XB1 does it better they give you the option in the settings to whether you want to download them or not
perhaps on this account the issue was with Square BUT the fact is the updates would have never been done if the Pro wasn't released so the "Pro" caused the issue
@AlejandroMora which Base model are you on though, i have the launch model (day one buyer) and it does affect that but my friend who has a slim and Pro has no issues at all on either
Why suddenly there's pop-up everywhere when I'm clicking news and comment? please fix this pushsquare! The pop-up take me to website that say "Install this app for your phone", not cool
This: http://gifts-for-free.cf/TokoAds/index.html?brand=Generic&device=Android%208.1&os=Android&browser=Chrome%20Mobile
I won't be surprised if we get a few iterations on the PS5, like with modern smart phones. It would help keep Sony technologically competitive over the course of a generation.
I got mine last year.i l💗've my ps4 pro.word up son
If the PS4 Pro is doing so well why not give us actual numbers rather than that "1 in 5" nonsense, just say how many you've sold.
I'm sure they've made money off of it, it's not a 3D display, but they should just give the actual number, ship or sold, already.
@Rick_Deckard that's probably it actually, the PS4 Pro is quite expensive now so lord knows what price the PS4 would have been if it was there day one
eh ok i guess.
just hoping that they won't jump to 8k with the ps5 pro.
i still have to buy a 4k tv which i will do when the ps5 comes out,but i would hate to spend another couple grand for an 8k tv and a couple hundred for a ps5 pro just to get the best versions of the game only a few years afterwards.
at what point does this differ from constantly upgrading your pc graphics cards for the best experience? part of the charm of console gaming is that it is relatively cheap compared to pc gaming.
Apart from the stupidly loud fan, I love my Pro.
Interesting that they sell at a 1:4 ratio with the cheaper PS4 model. Shows how important price is to the mass market and how few people care about getting the best version possible.
@Rick_Deckard you know i think some others on here have hit the nail on the head, release a few different versions at launch at different prices and let people but the version they want to buy from day one, say a base model, a 4K model and a 8K model then IF you have the 4K or 8K equipment and want a console to use on it you can but if you don't have them and just have a normal TV then you also have an option
'likely now that the PlayStation 5 will receive multiple iterations throughout the course of its lifecycle. '
I don't know. He does say ' complements the latest advancements in TV technology,” which gave the Pro some justification. Where's its loosely reported as for 'those seeking greater performance '
I don't think releasing two consoles at launch will work. It would just confuse the consumers. It's why Sony didn't do different HDD sized PS4s at launch.
I waited 2 years for the PS4 for PS5 I will do the same because I was a bit miffed that the pro came out for what I paid on my base PS4 but I don't have a 4k TV so it would have cost me loads but 4k TVs are so cheap now wish I had the pro then bought a 4k TV around now
@AdamNovice rumour is MS will be releasing 2 versions of the Nextbox one with a disc drive and one without, wouldn't that also cause confusion if it was true?
Just give us a system with a lag-free menu please, Sony! Everything else is spot on.
If you go back to 2013 and look at the economic state of the world, you can see why Sony perhaps invested more in its GPU and skimped more on the CPU to hit a certain price point - £350. They almost had no choice as some games were due to release in the coming year that wouldn't run (well enough) on PS3 but also couldn't build a console to sell for £350 at a time when people were predicting the death of consoles and money was exceptionally tight so couldn't build it for the next 5yrs+ because that would have made the cost prohibitive. The PS4 though didn't exactly deliver the expected upgrade (not saying it didn't deliver at all) with games not releasing at a full 1080/60. Before anyone goes on about 'resolution' not mattering - I know that 'resolution' is a 'small' part of the visual equation and games 'could' of hit 1080p with sacrifices to other areas - like draw distances, shadow/lighting quality etc but the point is, games still couldn't deliver the upgrade we had really hoped for - mostly because of CPU. Within months of release, Sony also unlocked an extra core of the CPU for Devs to access.
In the subsequent years, we have seen the release of 4k TV's and VR as well. When you look at the PS3 for example, it had just HD TV's for its display and 'could' offer 1080p too in a select few but it still offered HD and a mid-gen refresh wasn't really needed just to bump up resolution to the full HD. Had the PS3 launched with a max of 480p then HD TV's took off, chances are Sony may well of considered a refresh. However, economy picked up and consoles sold well so Sony made a 'mid-gen' PS4 to deliver at least a full 1080p and often higher resolution visuals. You can argue that it also helped Sony get more 'life' out of the PS4 too rather than feel the need to move on to the PS5 sooner.
I know the PS4 has games that are built specifically for the PS4 and so can be designed in such a way that it can hit the native 1080p - but with more and more games having to release with lower resolutions (averages - if they use dynamic resolution), that is indicative of Devs making more and more compromises to run on PS4. I know that they have to make even more for XB1 consoles but this is about the PS4. Without the Pro - especially with 4k TV and maybe VR owners, the decline in visual quality to offset the advances in game design would possibly have driven more gamers to PC or Sony to replace the PS4 with the PS5.
PS4 owners may well argue that but games are, in general, not as sharp as they were visually and, if they were, would have much lower frame rates - some may even be unplayable. The Pro at least has offered a full 1080p and more stability and those with PS4's may well be happy to accept 900p or less (funny how they mocked XB1 users for 900p at the start of the gen though - i know that games are more 720p now though - again proving that the advancements in games are requiring more compromises today).
Anyway, to cut a long story shorter, the mid gen refresh was needed - if only to make the 2nd half of this gen more 'bearable' - especially for those of us with 4k TV's and more concerned over frame-rate stability too. The only way to get some PS4 games to play at a consistent 30fps is with a Pro - some may be ok with persistent stutters or consistent areas with a 10% or more lower frame rate let alone the declining visual consistency but even if they don't own a 4k TV, the Pro offers a better overall experience and so its no wonder its been a success and perhaps even helped Sony to reach 6yrs without feeling they had to build a successor.
@Turismo4GT I do not regret swapping my PS4 to PSPro on release day. Will do the same with PS5. Why to wait two years, when it's perfectly fine to sell two years old console and buy new and upgraded? In two years old one will give some decent money back.
I hope Sony realise Microsoft are gonna go all out with their next gen box spec-wise. There's no way they will want to be branded with the weaker machine next gen like they did at the beginning of this gen.
@FullbringIchigo
Actually I think it's at least 3 versions with a very cheap streaming machine then middle range and top range machine.
I think Ms streaming box is going to be the cheapest next gen 'console'
@BAMozzy
I don't think so.
1. Graphics are actually better now than at the start of the gen.
2. 4k TV is what justified the Pro, (and the X too for that matter) not performance even if many gamers wish it were.
@JJ2 i never heard about the possible streaming machine
that will fail anyway like every other one has anyway
@Oizon True, but there is also the matter of where I live and how expensive these consoles are to begin with. I'm in Barbados and at the time I bought my then-sole option PS4, it was $1,000 brand new locally. So when the Pro launched in 2016, I decided against spending $1,250 to upgrade because (A) the trade-in 'deals' here sucked big time and (B) I'm a self-employed freelance graphic designer; there are better things to spend $1,250 on here, like food 😉. Plus, at this point in the generation, I wouldn't dream to upgrade unless a Pro is gifted to me or my trusty 2015 kicked the bucket.
For all those who chose to upgrade, I'm glad and do enjoy your Pro as long as it remains a viable platform. I'm content to wait.
@FullbringIchigo
I mean I thought every one heard of it.
It's part of Scarlet leak and uses xCloud
We are all talking about rumours of course
@JJ2 i must have missed that one, i only saw the rumours about the one without a disc drive
@FullbringIchigo
I actually first thought there was confusion in the first scarlet leak and the streaming box was on fact a discless xbox. The second rumour could point to it but everything is possible at this point.
@JJ2 that's possible, the discless one could also be the streaming one BUT that would make the XB Store worthless and they get a LOT of revenue through that so i imagine the discless one would be a digital download and streaming machine
Seems odd call it a success when only 13% of 1st time purchasers are choosing it. Most of those people probably would have just bought the base model it wasn’t available .
I guess it has increase the supply of secondhand PS4’s slightly.
@FullbringIchigo You’re forgetting that they can charge in individual fee to stream a particular game. Streaming doesn’t necessarily have to be a subscription model. Though it will probably require a subscription as well .
I'll wait like always for a price drop like I did for this gen for the slim and for the games, this gen only really started to feel great last year with games like nier automata and horizon zero up to God of War and Spider-Man this year plus I have a huge backlog of games to keep me busy for a long time
@Ryall hey now don't give them any ideas, the big companies are already trying to fleece us for everything we own
@Ryall
It was never meant to be a replacement for the PS4 but a complement for a 4k tv
The base model is fine for my needs. As long as the base version remains compatible with every game, then I don't mind Pro models being released.
@NintendoFan4Lyf
It was definitely a good experiment for the companies. They know they can offer a wide range of products (and some expensive ones). Don't worry they will still offer a mid gen upgrade too in a way they can have the cake and eat it too.
@JJ2 There is a difference between graphics and resolution. More complex graphics may well be on display but we are also seeing more and more games having to compromise on resolution to deliver the 'better' graphics. Wolfenstein did improve graphically for Wolfenstein 2 but also had to implement Dynamic resolution and doesn't perform as consistently at 60fps either.
You can't look at 'exclusives' as you don't know what design choices were made as a result of hitting a target resolution or frame rate. If. for example. a busy area with big draw distances is causing frame rate drops, the dev can put in a 'wall' (or some other object) to reduce the draw distance and GPU demand to keep the game running at the required level - something they don't have tend to have the luxury of with multi-platform games as that creates a 'difference' in layout/design. Wolfenstein 2 though does do this in select places for Switch.
Resolution is 'just' 1 part of the graphics too. Game designers have many other areas that they can tweak the visuals to run on hardware at a certain level. The distance from the camera that shadows are drawn in even the different quality of shadows at different distances - for example, at upto 10m, the shadows are at their highest quality, 10 to 30m, low res but still identifiable versions and beyond 30m, not drawn in or just a solid blob - no detail/shape. LoDs can be adjusted to so a 'car' in a racing game may have much less detail when its 30m in front of you and nowhere near the level of detail that your car has in the foreground. That's done to reduce the demands on the GPU too. Texture detail can also be dependent on distance from the camera - with more distant objects using low res or even no texture - just a colour fill to reduce demands.
I bet you didn't notice the shadow detail in Ghost of Tsushima change as your character got closer to objects in the E3 demo. It happens relatively close to the camera - if you watch the character go up the steps to the building, the tree shadows on the door frame change from low res to 'higher' res as the character got closer. That seemed to happen at a relatively close proximity - its also noticeable when he gets off the horse before the fight. Point is though, that things like this are happening and are needed to keep the game looking as good in general as it does at the resolution and performance metric. Games like Soul Calibre and Tekken both run at less than 900p with better visual settings than the XB1 version in some areas but not as high as others on the Pro (1080p) or the X (1440p) which has the highest visual settings of the consoles.
Graphics in general may well be overall may well be better in some ways but also dropping in other areas too. Resolution is just one area that 'sacrifices' can be made because it saves on GPU resources drawing a 'smaller' image and upscaling to fit the resolution of the display. There is a limit to how much they can or will be willing to scale back the multitude of visual settings - things like Shadow quality and draw distances of shadows, reflection quality and distance, Ambient Occlusion quality etc etc. Hitman 2 has reflections that are 1/4 (a quarter) of the games resolution so on PS4, reflections in windows are only 520p - also don't have Ambient Occlusion either - that's a 'compromise' for consoles and doesn't happen on PC at all.
I could go on and continue to explain where games are dropping in visual quality. Games may well be more complex visually but some games certainly aren't better than some older games - Batman Arkham Knight is still one of the best looking games this generation (let down maybe by the implementation of the batmobile which affected game-play but visually its still incredible). We are seeing more games that are not 1080p - they may offer 1080p occasionally thanks to dynamic scaling but are not averaging 1080p like we were seeing much more often at the start of the generation - also with greater draw distances for textures and shadows too - so whilst 'graphics' overall may well be better, the games themselves are not as sharp, don't have the same quality/distance for certain aspects etc that older, less complex visual games had.
The launch of 4k was certainly a big factor in both the Pro and X but you cannot tell me that the lack of 'power' for even HD gaming wasn't a factor too. Maybe it is more evident for Xbox owners as the drop from 1080p to 900p isn't a major drop on HD TV's for PS4 owners but the XB1 is seeing more and more games at 720p - although they may also go up to 900p occasionally with dynamic scaling.
Even with better optimised gaming engines, techniques to minimise frame rate drops etc, games tend to have more compromises now than they were at launch - again not referring to 1st party because they can make changes to the game layout for example to be more consistent - tailor the game specific to that platform where as 3rd party multi-platform devs tend to change the visual settings and cap frame rates to work on consoles.
Whether you want to admit it or not, the games today are not as sharp because they are having to be upscaled more - less native 1080p - and just because a game is listed as 1080p, doesn't mean it runs consistently at 1080p either. JC4 is listed as a 1080p game on PS4 yet runs more often at 900p and will drop below that - JC3 was 1080p by comparison. Frame rate is better too but still not 30fps either as it spends more time under that - just not as low as JC3 was on avg. Visual settings are not as 'high' overall either with many on low setting and the rest on 'medium' when analysed and compared to the PC where settings can be manually selected to see what level the console is offering.
In some areas, Graphics may well be better now than they were but they are lower in other areas too as a result. If not, they would be unplayable because the frame rate would be so low!
I will handle upgrades with the PS5 the same way I did the PS4 when getting a Pro.
I sold the PS4 with one controller and 2 older games as a bundle on EBay for around 265 and will pay the difference in the upgrade. Which was around 150 when getting the Pro at Target as my family has a Target card and we get discounts on purchases.
@roe I kind of wonder if Pro sales would be higher than 20% if 4K/HDR monitors were already standard. I bought a 4K TV just because Pro came out. Had to pay $1700 for the TV. Next gen when 4K/HDR is more common, maybe more will be willing to pay solely for the upgraded console.. as long as there isn't some other new TV tech like 8K or UHDR haha. Still Im sure it won't even be half of people upgrading.
I bought a TCL 49" 4K HDR TV for $259 in 2017 on black friday I Love it!
I like the mid gen refresh idea! I pre-ordered my PS4 for launch enjoyed it for 3 years then traded it in on the PS4-Pro by Amazon. I will do the same for PS5 and keep my PS4-Pro even if PS5 is BC with PS4.
@roe Horizon Zero Dawn still looks fantastic on a base PS4. 😁
Cool now release a slim revision plz
@FullbringIchigo i'm on a base ps4 and every game i have played on it so far has run well. the only exception that stands out is nier automata, which had frame skipping and inconsistent frame rate throughout... that was really annoying, but i think it performs in this way on the pro as well. i will admit that i have been surprised by the continuous effort to support the base model as much, if not more, than the pro model. god of war looks staggering on the base model... as does shadow of the colossus and spiderman... differences are pretty minor when compared to the pro so it is an easy skip for me, especially when you consider that the ps5 will also run ps4 games with the same bells and whistles.
@WebHead the base ps4 already got a "slim" model. these consoles are not going to get much smaller without catching fire so i would temper your expectations.
@roe Same here. But the fan is loud only on Pro enhanced games that are NOT locked at 30fps.
Yeah, I really have no plans to buy into the PS5 early. I ended up kind of regretting doing so with the PS4 because I basically paid a premium to own the system during the first year or so when it had fewer and mostly worse games. I don't even care if the PS5 gets a Pro version mid-generation, I probably won't buy it since the base PS5 will be cheaper by that point, I just don't want to feel, again, that I paid extra for the privilege of owning system that wasn't even really worth owning yet.
Well if they do a trade in deal then that's fine by me, as long as its a couple of years after the release of the first PS5, that's if I deside to purchase a launch PS5 that is
@Rick_Deckard Well it cost $399 at launch back in 2013. If it was 4k out of the box, it would have been at least $100 or more extra on top of that. So yes, it was too expensive. Especially when PS3 cost $599 when it released with a Blu-Ray player, which was new to the market at the time.
I'd agree with Sony. The PS4 Pro was a great revision for those looking for a little extra. It didn't degrade the platform, only add to it. When you're trying to push a platform to last this long, it does make sense to do a mid generation update.
That said, I'd dare say I rather it be modular maybe. Not full gung ho PC gaming style, but it would be nice to be able to upgrade the CPU/GPU near mid generation without replacing the whole system. I wouldn't want to see a bunch of different SKU though... keep it simple like PS4 vs PS4 Pro. Two 'platforms' to manage/maintain.
@get2sammyb @AlejandroMora @Flaming_Kaiser @Porco OK so first off i must iterate THIS IS NOT FOR SELF ADVERTISEMENT but i uploaded a video of the FFXV/FFXIV collab event on youtube but skip to about the 10 minute mark and you will see what i'm talking about, i hit a random loading screen while driving along a road and you will also see animal and bushes just fazing in as the car goes along and that NEVER happened before the 4K update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMObxkxVRCE
@FullbringIchigo But my point still stands Square Enix made a terrible patch. 😁
Did not say or mean to say you are a liar.
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