PlayStation 5 | Pro Spec Analysis

[Moonface]

How much value a PS5 has for me at launch will come down to the games that launch with it. I don't find the PS4 to be less value than its launch price as a piece of hardware, but the library didn't really have enough for me until late 2015/early 2016, so for the first two years or so the value of a PS4 to me was lower because it didn't have enough software to cater to my personal tastes. PS5 as a piece of hardware could be worth every penny it asks for, but it's hard to appreciate the value of hardware if there's no software you want to use on it at the time. I know it likely has BC, but I wouldn't spend $500 on a system to just keep playing what I have on PS4.

[Metallix]

Right. I was just talking hardware wise. But yes, any system is only as good as its games and power/features doesn’t negate that as history has shown.

I’m expecting it to be a better launch than PS4 but beating previous PS launches isn’t hard. They’ve all had pretty bad launch titles with the exception of the Vita. Funny how their most doomed hardware had the best software launch of all of them. Haha

[Frank]

I agree with Moonface, games available at launch will dictate if I order it or not. Honestly, I'd be perfectly content waiting it out a few years. My PS4 backlog is horrible!

[Metallix]

For me I may wait a bit, it just depends. They have delivered on games four gens in a row so it’s not much of a concern to me. Especially since I can sell my Pro for $200 and significantly reduce the price of entry. But still too many unknowns.

[Frank]

If the console has full backwards compatibility with PS1, PS2, and PS3 physical and digital games, I'd buy it day one. Otherwise I'm going to wait for there to be enough software I want to jump into.

[Moonface]

As much as I'd love that level of BC, Dragon Lord made a good point for it being a very likely pipe dream. I also wouldn't put it past Sony to not consider it just to have a reason to keep pushing PS Now.

I think the biggest criticism I'd have so far is that if PS4 games can be played on a PS5, then you're probably going to have to get a PS+ subscription if you want to bring your save data over via the cloud. I'd like it if Sony gave say, a week of free PS+ with PS5's so you don't have to pay to transfer your saves, but no company would ignore such easy money by doing that.

[Dragon Lord]

Unfortunately for you, Sony is probably going to start pushing PS Now even more, because the subscriber count for it has been steadily increasing lately. That's only going to tell Sony to push it even harder. I won't be surprised if they start pushing it as hard for the PS5 as they have been VR with the PS4.

[Frank]

As much as I'd love that level of BC, Dragon Lord made a good point for it being a very likely pipe dream. I also wouldn't put it past Sony to not consider it just to have a reason to keep pushing PS Now.

I think the biggest criticism I'd have so far is that if PS4 games can be played on a PS5, then you're probably going to have to get a PS+ subscription if you want to bring your save data over via the cloud. I'd like it if Sony gave say, a week of free PS+ with PS5's so you don't have to pay to transfer your saves, but no company would ignore such easy money by doing that.

They may include a free trial with new consoles. They did that with PS4. Granted those were for new users only, but since PS4 was the first gen of PS+ being a necessity for online play, most people were new to the service. Since we're used to it at this point, stackable free trials would be nice!

[Moonface]

What trials are stacking? If they were to include a free PS+ trial, would it not just be one code that anyone can use regardless of their PSN ID creation date? I get the feeling you have a different idea in mind.

[Frank]

Stacking as in if you have a preexisting membership, the trial time stacks on top of your subscription. Xbox Live has been that way for as long as I can remember.

[Moonface]

I don't see why it couldn't work. In theory the code would be no different to buying more PS+ and adding it to your current subscription. You don't need to wait for your subscription to expire to redeem more time with a new code.

[Dragon Lord]

Free PS+ codes you say? I'd be down for that. I mean, my PS+ goes until 2021, but it never hurts to use free codes to extend that even further.

Though I have a feeling Sony probably won't be as nice with giving out free PS+ as they were before. Hell, we can't even get a half-decent game for free from PS+ any more. Especially now that they dropped PS3 and Vita games from the free list.

[Karo]

Honestly right now comparing PSN to Nintendo's online service I'd be more likely to feel like I'm getting a better deal out of the PS+ over the nintendo switch online which i am honestly sure at some point I will be getting at least whenever I do eventually get PS+ I'll at least feel like I'm getting a better deal than NSO. XD

(Secretly I'm hoping that Sony will decide...you know what I'll beat my competitors by offering free multiplayer again! Take that Xbox & Nintendo! )

[Dragon Lord]

I'm glad I'm able to get a year of Switch online through Amazon Prime. Otherwise yeah, Nintendo Online is a joke. Even for $20 it's a pretty big rip-off. "Hey guys, pay to have Peer-2-Peer connection and all of the horrendous lag that comes with it, because we're too cheap to actually use dedicated severs!"

Maybe if they actually start offering some decent games through Nintendo Online (the NES lineup they have right now is pretty awful, and most of the games I can play elsewhere). Give me GBA virtual console through Switch Online and I'll gladly pay the $20 to have games like FE7/FE8/GS on my Switch. Though in the end I don't mind paying for PS+ purely for the online storage (this immensely helps get around some awful trophy requirements in some games). Plus it is nice knowing that if my PS4 ever spontaneously combusts, I'll at least still have my saves online.

Oh, and of course knowing that if I ever play Dark Souls online, at least I'm on dedicated servers.

As for PS+, the biggest thing Sony needs to do is actually give out some decent games through it. Tired of getting bottom of the barrel indie trash every month. Especially now that they only give away like two games since they dropped PS3 and Vita games.

[Moonface]

If PS5 has backwards compatibility, I'd like it if big PS4 games were included with it. For example, they could put The Last of Us out with it prior to Part II for people who maybe never played it yet, and for those who only played it on PS3. Sure, it'd be an old game, but I know it's a pipe dream to expect any big first party hits making their way to the free PS+ deals while they're still relatively fresh. The only time we really got that that I can recall was the apology games Sony gave out for that big server issue back in 2011 or somewhere around that time.

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Just came across this video that showcases the hoped for load times for the PS5 compared to the PS4 Pro: