Analysts have told CNBC that Sony is likely to release a PlayStation 5 Pro in late 2024.
This refresh is designed to refresh interest in PS5 after Sony came out and said it believes the sales pace of its console will start falling from the next fiscal year, starting April 2024.
Sony previously released the PS4 Pro back in 2016, three years after the original model came out. If we get a PS5 Pro this year, it will arrive four years after the PS5 launched in November 2020. The PS5 Slim came out in November 2023.
According to Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, a Tokyo-based consultancy firm, “there seems to be a broad consensus in the game industry that Sony is indeed preparing a launch of a PS5 Pro in the second half of 2024…And Sony will want to make sure to have a great piece of hardware ready when GTA 6 hits in 2025, a launch that will be a shot in the arm for the entire gaming industry.”
Given the pressure on company margins, it seems unlikely that Sony will reduce the price of the current model PS5 if and when the Pro version releases.
Sony boss Hiroki Totoki offered his “frank impressions” of the PlayStation business recently, suggesting that studios do more to lower costs of development. Furthermore, Totoki said that Sony would attempt to improve game margins for PlayStation if it spread its titles on other platforms like PC.
The PS5 sales forecast for the current financial year has been revised by Sony, down from 25 million sold to 21 million. However, there has been a year-on-year increase in PS5 sales for the holiday 2023 quarter, from 7.1 million to 8.2 million.
Finally, Sony has ruled out the release of major existing PlayStation franchise titles before April 2025, which means we won’t be getting any new God of War or Spider-Man any time soon.