A few minutes into the PS5 Pro Technical Presentation on Tuesday morning, I realized that the new console probably wasn’t for me. And that was before I knew that Sony was going to charge $699.99 for the hardware revision. I actually reviewed the PS4 Pro eight years ago, and while it didn’t blow me away, I thought the jump from 1080p to 4K was enough to warrant its existence, at the very least. This upgrade seems far more niche.
But the more I thought about the PS5 Pro’s price point, its lack of a disc drive, and the relatively minor graphical improvements that Sony decided to highlight in its short video presentation, the more my mind began to wander to another upcoming console.
Nintendo is reportedly just weeks away from announcing the successor to the Switch. We don’t officially know anything about the Switch 2 (including its name), but let’s take a look at some of the leaks and rumors that have been spreading in recent months:
- Multiple sources have claimed that the Switch 2 will be fully backward compatible with the original Switch, including physical and digital games.
- If the Switch 2 is indeed backward compatible with original Switch game cards, the console would presumably come with a built-in game card reader.
- Although there hasn’t been a consensus when it comes to the potential price of the Switch 2, recent reports point to Nintendo charging “$499 or less.”
To that last point, Nintendo has never charged more than $300 for a new video game console at launch. Even the Switch OLED Model, which currently retails for $349, is still $100 cheaper than the PS5 Slim and $150 cheaper than the Xbox Series X.
Putting aside the major technical gap between the Nintendo Switch and other modern consoles, the price difference has clearly contributed to its popularity. As we’ve repeatedly pointed out, the Switch is well on its way to becoming the best-selling game console of all time.
Circling back to the PS5 Pro, this isn’t necessarily a knock against Sony’s souped-up console. There’s always going to be a market for premium products and experiences like this, and guess what? You don’t have to buy one! Not only is no one forcing you to pay $700 for a PS5 Pro, but it’s not going to play any games you can’t already play on a PS5.
With all of that said, the reactions to the PS5 Pro price were largely negative. Plus, as noted by The Verge and others, you’ll need to buy a separate $79.99 disc drive if you want to play any of your physical PS5 games on a PS5 Pro. Oh, and Sony didn’t take this opportunity to announce any new games that will take advantage of the console’s upgraded specs.
Nintendo could not have asked for a better contrast to its new console. We don’t know what the Switch 2 will look like or what it can do, but I can guarantee you that it will cost substantially less than $700. Even a $200 price hike over the original Switch isn’t going to look quite so egregious when the PS5 Pro is fresh on everyone’s mind.
It’s possible that both the Nintendo Switch 2 and the PS5 Pro will find success, but I can tell you that I walked away from the PS5 Pro Technical Presentation more interested in seeing what the competition has to offer than the device Sony unveiled.
