PS5 Pro vs PC value comparisons are less important than the potentially bleak future of console pricing

PlayStation 5 Pro vs. PC. For the past week, my X/Twitter timeline has been filled with increasingly insane value comparisons. Is the latest Sony console so expensive that a PC could actually offer more for your money? From my perspective, there are a few ways you can look at this. First, are console gaming costs rising so much that a gaming PC is no longer such an expensive alternative? That’s a legitimate concern, and worth some discussion. But the real argument seems to be that potential Pro buyers should opt for a PC in its place and to me that’s less of a plausible idea. Both formats play games, but they’re fundamentally very different things – and believe it or not, potential Pro users may already have a gaming PC and still want a Pro… or simply don’t want a PC at all!

The more you look at the second argument, the less sense it makes. The PS5 Pro is unlikely to be anyone’s first console at that price point – it’s a premium version of the existing machine, and I’d wager the lion’s share of its audience who currently own a standard PlayStation 5 will upgrade for a better machine. The idea that those users should buy a PC instead doesn’t make much sense, because even the most powerful, expensive gaming PC in the world can’t access your library of PlayStation games.

On the subject, access to game libraries is one of our reasons. Really I’m not happy that the asking price doesn’t include a disc drive: PS4/PS5 enthusiasts must have a lot of discs they want to play, and it seems bad not to include an optical drive on the PS5 Pro. is bad.

I’d also argue that while both PC and PS5 Pro play games—often the same games—the ownership experience is vastly different. Value comparisons often involve building the PC, shopping around for the best prices. This is a practice that automatically excludes a significant portion of the audience that doesn’t have the confidence to choose components or actually build the system. Then there are the complications of broken parts and endless warranties. There are good value pre-builts out there, mind you, but how many mainstream gamers really want to bother with Windows 11, driver updates, or multiple store launchers? The PC is far from being a plug-and-play platform in the way a console is, which means its accessibility and functionality in the living room—the console’s traditional home—is questionable.

The PC format certainly has its own big advantages. There is no fee for online multiplayer. Free games are actually free If you have an Epic Games Store account (or Amazon Prime, if we’re cheating a little), you can play games. Pricing is more dynamic, and you generally get more bang for your buck. You have access to expandability and upgradeability that a console can’t match, with the lion’s share of technological innovation and advancements happening on PC first. And yes, crucially, if you want to run more games at 60fps or even beyond 120fps, you’ll have a lot more success on PC, as long as #StutterStruggle allows it. So for the curious — and yes, wealthy — PlayStation gamer looking at the PS5 Pro, already Get a PC too. There are great reasons to own both.

To summarise: the PS5 Pro is aimed at PlayStation users who have an existing library of games and want the best experience from their console of choice. It offers a fluid experience that’s more user-friendly and requires no builds and minimal maintenance. In the vast majority of cases, everything just works and stays working – an area where the PC is more cumbersome. And in terms of the Pro itself, what you get in terms of ‘more GPUs’, machine learning scaling and improved RT is essentially a sensible summary of the core innovations in the PC space, delivered in console form with all the benefits of the existing platform and ecosystem. None of this is to justify the excessive price point, but that’s the nature of the Pro proposition: outside of gaming, a console is still very different to a PC.

Asking existing PlayStation owners with money to spend to choose between the PS5 Pro and PC is a bit odd at the time, but the nature of the £699/$699/€799 price point opens up a very different, and much more interesting, discussion about the future of console pricing in general, outside of the idea of ​​a premium SKU offering. Today’s PS5 Pro isn’t a mainstream offering, but we can certainly imagine the next-gen PlayStation 6 will be. The standard PS5 with a disc drive launched at $100 more than the old PlayStation 4 Pro – which certainly raises strange questions about future console pricing if the same is true of the PS6 and PS5 Pro. I don’t think either platform holder will be able to go into the tenth generation with Pro-level sticker prices, and if they do, we could be looking at a repeat of the PlayStation 3 launch disaster – or worse. And a situation like this in a brand new generation could cause people to reconsider their options, and I think both Microsoft and Valve understand that.

By then, I expect to see a fundamental change in the PC market to the point where the platform is better equipped to replace a console. Looking at PC portables, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer admitted that the worst part of the experience was Windows 11, and so I expect Windows to evolve into a more versatile operating system that can offer the same kind of user-friendliness as the console, while still maintaining its open nature and access to multiple stores. In some shape or form, Xbox digital libraries will be able to migrate back to Windows — we’re already seeing that with Play Anywhere and Game Pass. Does that sound like a pipe dream? Maybe, but Valve has already shown that a PC operating system in the form of SteamOS on the Steam Deck can work very well in a console environment. And inevitably, SteamOS itself will migrate to other hardware.

However, I still think the recipe isn’t quite there yet. To compete with the benefits of a console, we’ll need a greater variety of PC hardware, and that means new form factors for pre-built PCs. Remember Alienware Alphaor better yet, Alienware X51? Mainstream manufacturers like Dell/Alienware, Lenovo and HP could certainly offer such a kit – the question is whether competitive pricing is possible. Of course, there’s a chance the next-gen Xbox or Xboxes could be along these lines, and perhaps Valve will consider continuing the success it achieved with the Steam Deck with a more console-like box.

Still, the basic idea that PC pricing should be competitive with a console for similar performance is interesting – and implies that the PS5 Pro is overpriced, but there may be reasons for that. I think there’s a good chance the PS5 Pro will be unsubsidised, and Sony may even consider making a profit from it, but there may still be some sort of subsidy on the base model. But the lack of meaningful cost reductions on the standard console in four years is certainly concerning.

Another factor regarding the pricing situation is that Sony is a Japanese company and the exchange rate for Yen is quite problematic. Compared to five years ago, Over 23% drop against US dollarOf course, that doesn’t explain the similar situation with Xbox Series pricing, or the $600 2TB Xbox Series X being overpriced, all of which point to a more widespread problem with the bill of materials and likely a PlayStation generation that’s too long.

For now at least, a console is a console and a PC is a PC. They’re both great things and great for gaming, but they’re also very different. It remains to be seen how long this will last, but I think the PlayStation 5 Pro and its price will be judged on their own merits — not whether you can build a PC of the same power, at a similar price point.