Analysts are predicting a PS5 Pro might enter the market soon, possibly as a way to boost interest in the console brand and have a more powerful platform ready for the release of Grand Theft Auto 6.
“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 firm Kantan Games, said to 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.”
During last week’s earnings call, Sony predicted a gradual decline in unit sales and has since cut its PS5 sales forecast for the current fiscal year ending in March. Originally predicting to sell 25 million units, Sony now expects 21 million PS5s to be sold during this period. The announcement has already wiped $10 billion of value off of Sony’s stock, with some analysts saying the sales goal was overly ambitious for the company while it experiences declining margins in its gaming business.
A mid-generation console refresh wouldn’t be unheard of, as Sony launched the beefier PS4 Pro in 2016. Currently, Sony’s hardware library includes a slimmer PS5 console, the PlayStation VR2, and the PlayStation Portal streaming handheld console. Sony will be focusing more on its live-service games throughout its next financial year and no major franchise games like God of War or Marvel’s Spider-Man will be released until April 2025 at the earliest.
The fallout from this current state of affairs could mean that the price of a regular PS5 will remain unchanged–prices actually went up in several regions outside the US–even if a PS5 Pro comes out, bucking past trends. “A scenario where Sony launches as PS5 Pro, but still experiences a declining year-on-year hardware sales is very much within the realms of possibility,” Omdia senior principal analyst George Jijiashvili explained to CNBC.
