Microsoft is once again on the back foot with gaming consoles, as its "world's most powerful console" is no longer the world's most powerful. Sony's PS5 Pro has the Xbox Series X beaten on paper, complete with AI upscaling tech for boosted performance. But oh boy, it ain't cheap.
Sony's 'PS5 Pro' beats Xbox to the AI graphics punch with its 'PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR)' feature — but it's $699.99 : Read more
I find you very optimistic about the PS5 pro. I personally think it's going to be a big flop for several reasons!
Very few developers will bother using proprietary technologies like PSSR or developing specifically for the PS5 Pro. We can clearly see the state of the video game industry currently. The constraints of development time, budget and resources have never been greater, I have difficulty seeing how developers are going to waste time on a console that will sell very little.
Don't forget that if the game is not designed for this mid gen console, there will be no or marginal profit. The framerate or resolution boost is not automatic.
The other reason is the price of course. I think Sony is doing really badly for daring to offer this kind of price, like having increased the price of current accessories. They are really testing the limits of acceptability of their hardware.
Even for casual gamers who don't know much about video games, they are unlikely to be convinced.
The other reason is the games, this PlayStation generation is probably the poorest in terms of first party games and even third party exclusives. I don't really see what would push you to buy this mid gen console.
All mid gen have never sold much but this one risks being even worse with a particular context which I have drawn a few lines above: purchasing power at half mast, gaming industry forced to reduce their budget, etc...
From what I see, Playstation increasingly has a negative image regarding the prices of their games, the price of their updates, the price of their DLC, the price of their accessories and the price of their consoles . And at the same time, they offer very little in terms of games, which hardly justifies such an investment. They also carry a negative image at the marketing level, people are less and less fooled by their marketing methods.
Xbox does not need to follow PlayStation in this area, the Xbox Series is sufficient for this gen ! Most games don't use all xbox series power.
I prefer that Xbox focuses on games and not so much on hardware like Sony does which has released more new hardware than games. (ps vr 2 > flop / ps portal > semi flop / ps5 slim / buds / etc..)
I guess Xbox releasing the new generation of consoles a year early, which would also explain why they didn't want to release mid gen