Sony is “likely” to release a PlayStation 5 Pro later in 2024, analysts have told CNBC.
This “souped-up” refresh would be designed to boost interest in PS5 after Sony admitted it expected the console's sales pace of the console to start falling from the next fiscal year, which begins April 2024. It would also launch ahead of the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2025, which is expected to significantly boost console game sales. Sony has yet to comment.
Sony has form when it comes to releasing a Pro version of its consoles. The PS4 Pro, for example, launched in November 2016, three years after the PS4 came out. If a PS5 Pro does launch later this year, it would come four years after the PS5 launched in November 2020.
“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,” Serkan Toto, CEO of Tokyo-based games consultancy Kantan Games, told CNBC.
“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.”
Another analyst suggested Sony will not cut the price of the current PS5 even when the PS5 Pro comes out, due to pressures on the company’s margins.
Last week, Sony boss Hiroki Totoki offered what he called his “frank impressions” of the PlayStation business, suggesting its studios can do more to cut development costs. Totoki also said Sony would try to improve PlayStation game margins by leaning further on non-PlayStation platforms, such as PC.
Sony has revised its PS5 sales forecast for the current financial year, down from its lofty target of 25 million consoles sold to 21 million. This despite a year-on-year increase in PS5 sales for the holiday 2023 quarter, from 7.1 million sold to 8.2 million. Elsewhere, Sony has said it will not release any major existing PlayStation franchise games before April 2025, ruling out big sequels in the God of War and Spider-Man franchises any time soon.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
