Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Call For Questions For DF Direct Weekly #180 (Patreon)

Published:
2024-09-12 10:36:31
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:
Q&A

Content

Hi there, we are - as usual for a Thursday - in the planning stages for the next edition of DF Direct Weekly. We're going to take a slight pause from our regular scheduled #content to produce (another) PS5 Pro themed video. Now we have access to the actual capture, we can do things like provide opinions on improvements, discuss PSSR, and even discuss native rendering resolutions.

And maybe - just maybe - we'll see if a PC equivalent piece of hardware can indeed run Elden Ring at 60fps without any enhancement from From Software, but by virtue of the game boost functionality.

Anyway, it's another Pro special - so please feel free to post your questions below. I will also be revisiting the last Call For Questions for the first special in case I missed anything interesting!

Files

Comments

1040STF

The PS5 5 Pro feels like it will be the Neo Geo of consoles for the next 3-4 years. Except the Neo Geo was relevant for about 15 years. And thinking about it, we didn't had to zoom into the backgrounds on Neo Geo to see the differences with the other hardwares: the sprites zoomed themselves arrogantly to us to demonstrate their superiority, which was absolutely awesome. Jokes aside, this new console price feels like a good illustration about where we are now in the industry, with more and more expensive hardwares with performances that are quickly outdated by a new iteration (I'm mostly thinking of PC handhelds here), and companies like Sony now wanting to make a margin on every console sold as they need to find financial growth. And it brings so many questions. We have often ask since a few years if a 1000€ Xbox would make sense: well, we're about to have the beginning of an answer. By the way, I don't see anyone asking if the PS5 Pro patches will be free or if they will cost money: that might sound insane but in a world where Sony dominates the market, they can do pretty much what they want, and they certainly did with the base PS5. So, why not? The problem isn't the PS5 Pro price itself, the problem is that we all know it could pave the way for the base price of the next-gen consoles in a few years. I still hope the Switch 2 will be a very affordable machine. I always saw video games as an entertainment for the masses, accessible to everyone. Look at how the Game Boy and its two colors capabilities were a success in the early 90's when the hype in magazines was all about 16-bits, more and more colors at the same time on screen and the excitement about upcoming CD-based consoles. I might be a tech enthusiast, ready to spend thousands of euros in a gaming PC, but a console is supposed to be affordable in my book, on the other side of that price spectrum. 3-4 years ago I was wishing the PS4 to be abandoned by developers as fast as possible... But today with a 550€ PS5 and a 799€ PS5 Pro, I'm starting to wish the PS4 will go on a little more as it's a great affordable console for everyone, at least until the Switch successor happen. I feel also lately that time proves Nintendo was right in its refusal of the technology race. Embracing a tech for a console when it becomes affordable for the masses might be the right sustainable path.

1040STF

That question might be too long haha

Ryan Seymour

Hi gents. Do we know if the HDMI 2.1 spec of the PS5 Professional will be improved in terms of the bandwidth? The bog standard PS5 is capped at 32 GBPS. Will it be boosted to 40 GBPS (in line with Series X)? Maybe even 48 GBPS? Would an upgrade be necessary to accommodate all the new fancy stuff? Would it make any meaningful difference? Love your work. Cheers!

Having an AI-neurysm

If PS5 Pro is $699 today, and silicon prices aren’t forecasted to get any cheaper over the next few years (if anything, more expensive), what does this mean for the next generation? Will Sony/Microsoft be able to achieve a true generational leap at a typical console affordable price just ~4 years from now?

Thomas Briggs

At double the PS4 Pro's introductory price has Sony misread the room? £800 with the drive, £825 all in (stand sold separately), this is new territory for mainstream consoles.

Spoggi99

Dear DF, With the release of the PS5 Pro on the horizon and the lack of new Sony exclusives to properly incentivize buying one, do you think Sony has some kind of program to encourage third-party developers to release PS5 Pro updates for their games? For example, Rockstar Games and the current lack of a 60 FPS mode for Red Dead Redemption 2 on consoles comes to mind. Looking forward to your discussion. Keep up the great work!

Adam Holmberg

Hi DF, I'm a bit baffled by the way Sony presented the PS5 Pro and the benefits. Not only did they show mostly great looking games with dlight improvements in a highly compressed fashion, but also talked about basically removing the choice of performance vs quality? Won't the developers just raise the bar for both modes? And the basically zero upgrade to CPU also means a lot of games won't see big, if any, improvements to framerates. Why didn't they talk more about PSSR if it's a game changer? Why did it all feel so slapped together? Still gonna buy it though. Cheers!

Jonny_5a

Assuming rising costs of consoles (ps5 pro) and graphics cards these last 10 years is due mostly to the increased complexity to manufacture said hardware, do you think there is scope for prices to start coming down again once the new silicon processes begin to mature? Or do you think the drive to compete/innovate mean that they’re always going to be working on a new process?

Kris Graney

Hi. It’s the switch 2 really going to be able to run current gen Unreal Engine 5 games at reasonable performance and resolution? Or will it be relying on DLSS to upscale from low resolutions (540p/720p) up to screen or near screen resolution? Be it the switch screen or your TV. Would you expect similar settings for games between a Switch 2 and Series S leading to these being good comparisons much like Series X and PS5? Thanks!

Alexej Rascelujev

Maybe it's too early for this question but since the PSSR have been unveiled how do you think it stacks up against other AI driven upscaling techniques? Do you see any difference at all from footage from PS5 PRO presentation? If yes, does it look better than XeSS or even DLSS?

Heazy

Dear Gentlemen of the Panel! PS5 Pro offers a Game Boost option, which will supposedly apply to more than 8,500 backward compatible PS4 games playable on PS5 Pro. Despite PS4 games being in a 60hz container, do you think the game boost code would allow for higher frame rates similar to how, friend of the show, Illusion achieved with their mods? Additionally, are there any particular titles you're looking forward to revisiting? Keep up all the amazing bespoke work and content!

Wez OOSH! (WOOSH)

Given the obvious backlash of the PS5 pro, it's safe to say that Sony is probably inclined to try to push a higher base price for the PlayStation 6 console. This has shown how Xbox not being a fierce competitor like the 360 days has led Sony to get too comfortable being sat at the top. My question is, with the worry of future console prices skyrocketing, is this possibly the final turning point that will push the console user into the PC market space? The main argument for console purchases was its price for performance and ease of use, if you remove the price for performance factor, I'm sure people would rather get their moneys worth out in the PC space and spend a little time optimizing their settings to play games. Sorry for the long question, keep up the good work

goregutz

Hi DF team! Do you think there are any chances of a PS5 pro slim? From what I gather, the Pro is still using the 6nm process which party explains the lackluster CPU upgrade and enormous size of the console. But if chip prices were to decrease within the next couple of years to the extent that it would be cheaper to manufacturer it on a more advanced node, do you think it can happen? There is some precedent. After all, how many PS3 permutations did we see?

KevWatch

Hi gents, given your breakdown of the PS5 Pro presentation itself being lacking, do you expect any follow up during the 30th anniversary state of play? I reckon they have to have a reason for folks to actually buy this thing. They’ll want to show at least a few upcoming games with that sweet sweet PS5 Pro Enhanced label. Right? RIGHT?! :p

Peter Karadimas

Hello gentlemen, Now that the playstation pro has been unveiled, does this take the wind out of the sails of a future Playstation 6? What features or improvements can Sony add in order to create a meaningful gen on gen improvement?

KevWatch

Been following DF since its inception, really appreciate your work :)

gartenriese

Will GTA VI have better ray tracing on the PS5 Pro?

pngnat

Putting aside the apocalyptic outrage from the PS5 Pro's price reveal, do you think this is Sony testing out just how much consumers are willing to pay to get their consoles? With Microsoft seemingly going in another direction and Nintendo doing its own thing, Sony effectively has the high-end home console market to itself. Maybe they're using the PS5 Pro to test and see if they can get away from the razor-and-blade business model of selling consoles at a loss and actually start making money every time someone buys their console, thereby helping grow Playstation's profit margins.

Will

I'll keep up the questions on the niche curiosity that is the PSVR2. Reviews using the PC adapter seem to be pretty favourable with the higher framerate and visuals attainable, and that's without the frills of HDR and proper haptics. Have any of the team had a proper try on PC, and do they envisage the pro being able to significantly enhance the PSVR2 experience

andre surles

Gentleman Microsoft has yet to reveal its “most powerful console ever”… in the wake of Sony’s pricing ripple how would a potentially even more expensive console go over?

andre surles

With PISSR’s fresh take, will we begin to see the PSVR2 actually taken advantage of? PS4 Pro offered very tangible benefits to the PSVR1.

Abandoned Walnut

Hi DF team. New subscriber here. I've been listening to you on YouTube for many months now on the way to work and finally took the plunge to become a member of the DF community. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on two sort of related questions. Firstly, do you think there's much point these days in owning both a console and gaming pc? Exclusivity seems to be reducing with even Sony putting most of it's top games onto pc eventually. I had pondered getting a PS5 pro but increasingly just can't see a good reason given that I have a well specced pc and most games will eventually come my way. Whilst I am predominantly a pc gamer, as many console gamers tend to do, i game on my TV in the lounge. My second question then is, are there anyways to set up my pc to behave more like a console? Specifically, I'd love it if there was a way to simply switch the pc on, not even need a mouse / keyboard, and straight away be able to navigate to my games with a controller. I'd love it if Microsoft thought of something like this. The only option I can currently think of is if I could boot windows up such that it went straight to steam big picture mode. Can I do this!? Thanks muchly!

CookieMcCrumble

New (revised?) hardware is good and all, but isn't it about time Sony went back to doing one of the things they do best, making innovative and interesting games and experiences? Thinking back to titles such as the original Little Big Planet, Tearaway, Eyepet, Eye Of Judgement, PS2's Eye Toy, and dozens more, I've always considered PlayStation one of the leaders when it comes to these innovative concept games. Astro Bot is the closest thing we've had since Astro's Playroom, but before that there seemed to be a bit of a dry spell. I'm probably in the target audience for the ps5 pro, as I'm a spoiled 44 year old brat, and am looking forward to the extra horsepower, but I do still yearn for new concepts and ideas.

lbb12

Hello Rich and DF Team! At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I don't know anyone else who can answer this question more reliably than you guys, so that is why I won't give up in my question being answered... I was hoping by the time a game like Metro Exodus and NVIDIA's open sourcing PhysX awhile ago (as well as continual extinction of dev support for it) that an AMD GPU user/based console would allow the use of its features by now, or am I wrong? Will we ever see a PhysX enhanced title run with those features turned ON for AMD someday (patched-in/updated to run)? Maybe a 'PhysX wrapper' (remember 3DFx Glide Wrappers for non-3DFx card owners?) As mentioned previously, the Batman Arkham series of games are a great example of a title that just seems lacking without the PhysX features, but complete with it (lookup 'Zogrim' on Youtube for best examples). I sincerely appreciate your input 😄👍

CookieMcCrumble

What game reveals would have made the PS5 Pro reveal an insta-buy for you? If they'd have announced Bloodborne Pro, or something like Resistance Trilogy Remake I'd have likely dribbled all over my keyboard while trying to place my order. Be interested to know what games would have had a similar effect on you wonderful specimens.

ElsaesserGamer

Dear DF Gents, About price hubris and monopoly, to which extend do you think Nintendo could imitate Sony on the next Switch ? Looking forward to my DF Merch and, for sure, to your next episodes

ConcreteLlama

There seems to be pretty much universal outrage at the price of the PS5 Professional, particularly because the lack of disc drive compared to its Unprofessional sibling. Do you think you could take a guess as to how much it costs to manufacture? Do you think Sony will respond to the outrage and do something about it? And most importantly are we seeing the beginnings of a return to the arrogant early PS3 era Sony?

ConcreteLlama

Do you think Nvidia will do anything about the relatively weak CPU performance on GeForce Now? I'm an Ultimate member - the service is very impressive, but just the act of enabling basic Ray Tracing in any form seems prevents me from being able to hit a consistent 60fps in Cyberpunk in open areas, particularly in Japantown or when driving. The GPU there is clearly very capable but rigs seem a bit unbalanced.

DaJaCo (Dan)

So it appears that the PS5 Pro is going to be on the 4nm production node rather than the 6nm that many expected. This is a much more significant jump from the 7nm of the base consoles. Given the unusual "boost clock" design of the PS5 architecture which essentially operated with a thermal throttle, and crazy "liquid metal" cooling solutions - what implications will 4nm have? - Could it allow much better sustained CPU speeds for example - so while the peak clocks aren't much better, the "area under the curve" is?

SirLankyIII

G'day Gents, Following up on last weeks "consoles in 15 years" question, do you think we'll see any new methods of interaction in the gameplay space? The last big mainsteam methods of were touch screens, motion controls and stereoscopic screens. Outside of VR the last two technologies died with the Wii/Kinect and the 3DS respectively, while touch has been widely underutilised in the mobile space, with the best examples of the tech trapped on the DS and 3DS. I'd love to see even simple motion controls make some sort of comeback but i'm not holding out hope. Lets here your thoughts, cheers!

DaJaCo (Dan)

I actually think it will allow them to really develop PSSR in a similar way to how DLSS, FSR and XESS have come on leaps and bounds since their initial release versions. Nothing beats real world testing and customer criticism - and then by the time PS6 is ready, they'll have it highly optimized, have a better idea how to accelerate it better with hardware - and likely have new features like frame gen (and 8k as they're already hinting at).

Retro Sean

Dear DF, thanks for your coverage. Unlike most, I don't think the price point is too high. Is it that everyone has forgotten how expensive GPUs have gotten? For a PC, the equivalent graphics card would cost about as much as the whole Pro system does. Should gamers put their expectations in check?

DaJaCo (Dan)

They have already said that PSSR will "enable higher resolutions" on PSVR2 - so I'd expect that at least - the biggest roadblock will be development time - the install base is so small that most games won't be able to financially justify a patch. Hopefully sony has come up with something that allows PSSR integration with a relatively trivial amount of work / or none at all via some kind of PSVR2 boost mode.

Thomas Trala

Hey DF! With all the developer interviews you’ve done recently, it got me thinking. Is there any dream interviews past or present that you guys wish you could do?

wondermagenta

Hi DF! I was intrigued by Wicca’s idea of a DF rating system in episode #178 of DF Direct, and I think I’ve come up with a good solution. First, use the following three criteria to judge games: 1. Even frame-delivery without a VRR display. 2. Respectable image quality. 3. Low input latency. I would argue these are the three metrics most DF viewers will primarily care about while also being universally applicable across the entire spectrum of games. Then, award one of three ratings: 1. DF Recommends — Games that nail all three criteria. 2. Caution — Games that may have issues with some criteria, but they’re either not too serious or can be overcome with the right setup (in this case, add a note with specific advice, for example “VRR solves frame-pacing issues.") 3. Avoid until patch — Games that fail our given criteria to the point of being difficult to enjoy with no way to improve the situation on the user’s end (shader compilation stutter, abysmal image quality, etc.) You could also award a special fourth badge for particularly outstanding games, which can be more subjective. Cheers and keep up the good work!

alexrdavies

In 2020, the rumour mill was clear that Sony dropped their price late in the day to complete with Microsoft. If they aren't worried about that competition, they have little need to subsidise the console. That goes double for a Pro machine which is *designed* to be the optional expensive one.

alexrdavies

One of the reasons most PC gamers went discless was the amazing discounts we saw through Steam and bundles. Digital sales can allow drastically lower prices to the point where buying discs isn't worth it - though they can also inspire a race to the bottom for devs. On the other hand, console marketplaces are much more of a walled garden. ... ... In an all-digital future, what might the economics look like for devs in the PC vs console markets?

Rhalgr

The PS5 Pro is priced in the range of reasonably powerful PCs. In addition, there are costs for multiplayer on PS and games are generally also more expensive. Hand on heart, would you rather build a PC for the price or buy a PS5 Pro if you didn't already have a high-end PC for professional reasons and needed the console for videos? How critical are you of the price with regard to the next generation of consoles? Is there a price limit for you that Switch 2, PS6 and the next Xbox should not exceed in order to be successful?

MaxedIt

While I get the outrage about the lack of a disc drive, part of me wonders whether the reality of it is just that we may be further along in the transition to digital than many people think. I would be interested to see whether Sony would just have the telemetry that backs up this decision. I for one own the disc based ps5 but it has never had a disc in it. I wonder whether that is just true for most ps5 owners. While I do think this is an indication that the PS6 will be without a disc drive as well, I don’t think they want to alienate the users with large collections of discs and still offer an optional drive going forward.

Allan Lindqvist

Now that we have "Pissr", should FSR now be known as "Fuzzr"? The versus video basically titles itself

Eric Benoit

This question is for everyone but I suppose John is going to have the answer this, if I already have a base PS5 and a retrotink 4k, could I use the Retrotink to offset any disadvantages the base PS5 would have against the PS5 Pro? Of course the RT, AI, Pisser features are off the table. But could the Tink help with performance if you set the PS5 to a lower resolution?

ConcreteLlama

Do you think Sony is mildly annoyed that you've called this lovely new technology of theirs "PiSSR?"? Or will they embrace it and call their console the P-Station?

Anxiously Chrono Triggered

Hey Gents, time for some wishful thinking. Do you think now would be a great time for Valve to show their subsidised PC living room version of Steam Deck (let’s call it „Steam Dock’d”) for $700? Gabe would say: „you can either purchase a slightly upgraded version of a console you already have or you can enter a world full of gaming history with our Steam Dock’d”. Just an idea. Have a great weekend!

Anxiously Chrono Triggered

With Mark Cerny, I guess ;) Especially now to ask him both about technology and pricing :)

Evan

One thing that you mentioned in the previous direct but I don't think was really covered in enough detail was the reality of comparing the value of the Pro compared to a gaming PC. A PS5 Pro with a disk drive and stand cost 800 USD or over 900 Euros. Add in the money you save by not having to pay for online gaming and you are nearly at $1000. If you wait for a sale, you can get a pretty good gaming PC for $1,000. Given that the primary audience for this device is enthusiasts, it seems like that market could deal with some of the inconveniences that come with connecting a PC to a TV. Doesn't it make sense to just buy a gaming PC at this point?

Anxiously Chrono Triggered

Hello DF crew, do you think SONY created a great opportunity for Nintendo to present Switch 2 in next couple of weeks? I mean, they could easily offer it at a $100 higher price than the OG Switch costed and still win a lot of hearts. Cheers!

MepsiPaxBerri

Hey DF team, keep up the great work! With the details dropped on the Pro, do any of you consider it an upgrade equivalent to how the PS4 and its Pro model worked out? The PS4 Pro provided the addition of 4K and HDR with those technologies becoming well adopted by consumers around that time, while the PS5 Pro is offering the best of both worlds from options that are already available to any current PS5 users. I feel the high price and lack of major tangible benefits is stunting what could otherwise be a noticeable improvement in performance.

alexrdavies

Plus the price of buying games!

Mr Bespoke

Hi DF Crew! Do you think Microsoft will do what Sony did with the PlayStation when they announced their price to undercut the Saturn's ridiculous price 30 years ago or do you think the new Xbox will be in the same pricing range?

Skyrimfest 26 FPS Edition

I think PS5 Pro will perform better in practice than the presentation suggested, as Sony could hardly show off games that currently look bad on PS5. I nonetheless can't see it selling well even with a price cut. Will low PS5 Pro sales kill Sony's appetite for mid-life 'Pro' updates? And will it also kill developer interest in spending time on PS5 Pro features?

Zero

Hi DF Crew! Mark Cerny said during the PS5 Professional reveal that "when asked to decide on a mode, players are choosing performance about three-quarters of the time". My question is, do you think there's some sampling bias going on with that statistic? In the 2024 Sony Business Segment Meeting, it was stated that half of all monthly active PlayStation users were still on the PS4 (roughly 50 million players). When you add in that context, does the 25%/75% Fidelity/Performance split take on new meaning, where only the people who care about performance upgraded to PS5 in the first place? Does that change anything as it relates to the graphics versus framerate discussion? Love to hear your thoughts!

TheMightyEthan

Hey DF! Do you have any thoughts about how the PS5 Pro's increased resolution on PS4 games is going to work? As I understood it the said there's no need for a patch. Is this going to just be some realtime version of AI upscaled video, or do you think it's more along the lines of the resolution multiplication that Xbox does on its OG and 360 back compat games? Thanks for your thoughts!

Alexander Mironov

EDIT: updated after double checking the exchange rate for the euro. Hi gents, Why do you think Europe and the UK are getting the PS5 Pro at such a ridiculous price? I checked the USD exchange rate for the pound and euro, and it’s roughly the same as it was four years ago (the euro has dropped slightly, but by less than 10%), so a fair price should have been around £629 and €749. Do you think Sony has a very strong grip on the broader European market and knows people will buy it regardless, whereas in the US, Xbox is still competitive, so they have to be more aggressive in that market? Thanks, and have a good day!

Statistical Barista

Hey DF Crew, With the $699 price of the PS5 Pro, do you think Nvidia and AMD are seeing this as a chance to attract new customers. How do you think this price point could impact next year’s GPUs and CPUs price points. With Xbox dwindling as competition it feels like Sony is now more directly competing with the likes of Nvidia and AMD and it could result in PC gaming being a better place for price per performance.

Macky Dee

Hi folks Did Sony pick the wrong games to show off the PS5 Pro? The focus on already excellent-looking and performant first party games meant the differences were largely minor (especially with YouTube compression). But I’d imagine with the likes of FF7 Rebirth the difference, as John has said, is more night and day. Sure maybe the focus was always going to be primarily on first party, but Hogwarts Legacy was included… so not sure why we didn’t see more ‘problem children’?

Hansen

Hello dearest Gents, do you see any chance that Sony would provide PSSR in some form or the other as a (software) update to the regular PS5 or will this remain solely with the PS5Pro? Thanks for your great work!

Leftisthominid

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Mark Cerny The Wise? I thought not. It’s not a story the PC gamers would tell you. It’s a Sony legend. Mark Cerny was Lead Architect of the PS5, so powerful and so wise he could design bespoke hardware to improve console image upscaling… He had such a knowledge of the gaming hardware that he could even prevent gamers from having to choose between resolution and performance. The PS5 Pro’s bespoke hardware is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. Mark Cerny’s PS5 Pro became so powerful… the only thing Cerny was afraid of was MAKING A CONSOLE TOO EXPENSIVE, which eventually, of course, he did.

Leftisthominid

Will Alex be gaming on the PS5 Pro for his own personal entertainment? (i.e., not just for work)

Bewilderbeest

Hello team, for those of us with lowly 1080p TVs, is there any point considering a PS5 Pro upgrade? Is there any magic super sampling tech we might benefit from?

Anxiously Chrono Triggered

Hey guys, Based on what Mark Cerny said I have a feeling we won’t be seeing too many games with quality and performance options anymore. PS5 Amateur will get most games running at 30 fps while PS5 Pro will have the same games (with a better image quality) running at 60 fps. I was hoping to see more games utilising 40 fps option but I worry that won’t be the case. If I’m wrong though, I think 40 fps option on PS5 Pro would look amazing. They could squeeze in more graphical features, keep a high resolution and have a nice image quality thanks to PiSSer. What do you think? Cheers

cubis

Hello fellas. Do you think Sony will eventually rename their upscaler from PSSR with the sheer amount of PiSSeR jokes coming from it?

Ryan Luker

Hello DF Gents! I wonder how much of PSSR is a custom Sony solution verse a preview of something AMD is cooking up to compete with DLSS? (or maybe AMD is providing the specialty hardware to power PSSR and AMD will have their own ASSR?) Quote and article below. > AMD uses its XDNA 2 -- the same NPU inside of the new Strix Point APUs -- to handle AI workloads on the PS5 Pro. Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/100445/amds-new-soc-inside-of-the-ps5-pro-60-cus-gpu-faster-gddr6-pssr-advanced-ray-tracing/index.html

Ryan Luker

I would also be curious about how the UI might scale (or lack of scaling) with the resolution, as some games are not very graceful in that area.

Ryan Luker

The usual play was to use the subsidized console to make up the money in the storefront fees (~30% cut etc) but lately a lot of regions have been forcing walled gardens to open up and this risks these subsidized boxes becoming loss centers for console manufactures, which wouldn't be good business wise.

Ryan Luker

I like your point here. > 3-4 years ago I was wishing the PS4 to be abandoned as fast as possible... But today with a 550€ PS5 and a 799€ PS5 Pro, I'm starting to wish the PS4 will go on as it's a great affordable console for everyone, at least until the Switch successor happen. How many games today (thinking indie in scope and graphics) could run just fine on the older last gen consoles and still be useful for Sony / Microsoft to encourage folks to use? (A $30 game bought on a PS4 brings in the same 30% store fee to manufacturers as the $30 game bought on a PS5). PC players have long known that you can stretch the life span of a build into the decades if you are willing, hah.

Selwyn Nypels

Hi gents! I was excited when intel entered the GPU market, but... where is Battlemage?! With NVIDIA getting 50 series ready, i am getting slightly concerned about Intel's efforts. Do you tuink they still have a chance?

Abhi

Cnet says ff7 rebirth in 60fps on ps5 pro is like putting on new glasses vs 60fps on ps5. Do you think FF7 rebirth’s improvements are driven by PSSR? If so, what’s stopping SE from integrating FSR2 into FF7R since the inputs should theoretically be similar?

Justwannaplaygames

Hello DF, Long time follower, 1st time questioner. Love you guys and the work that you'll do ! Post the PS5 Pro showcase, do you think Sony leans on companies like DF to provide the detailed analysis post console launch and hence they didn't invest time into doing it themselves? Also, do you think Sony's strategy of the PS5 Pro being built of diehard PS fans, is based off the success they saw with the PS Portal, even though initial impressions didn't provide much confidence?

Snorlax cat

more layoffs at MS, maybe Sony is better not subsidizing ps5 pro after all?

Pol Kallamata

Given how inexpensive optical disc drives are to manufacture, is Sony's decision to not bundle them into a 700 USD skew and to sell them separately for such a high mark up ($80 USD), ultimately about trying to push consumers towards going all digital more quickly? The obvious assumption would be that the separately sold $80 drive is a way to shake down customers for more money. But I would wager the ultimate prize for them is to cut retailers out of their sales revenue entirely and squash the second hand games market. A scenario where the only way for everyone to play games on PlayStation is through purchasing them on the digital storefront is much more lucrative than the margins on a one time disc drive sale. So could the unattractive price of these drives be a deliberate tactic towards achieving this end?

DaJaCo (Dan)

Does take the piss doesn't it. There should be some law against regional gouging.

Kaveh Ghorbati

(Please credit as "Local Bookstore") What's stopping games from being released on high tech flash drives? 100GB UHD Blu Ray discs surprised the hell out of me, but what happens when each game is close to a Terabyte? I thought Xbox's new storage expansion was surely a sneak peak at future physical media, Next Gen Consoles could even include a nifty drive tray. Each game could customize their stick. PC could include DRM free installers like the good old days. I'm dreaming, don't wake me up.

Pseudonatural

Hello custodians of the digital! Before the announcement of PS5 Pro I was ready to trade in my still fresh PS5 Amateur Slim and get a PISSER machine! Yet after that dreadful 9-minute trainwreck of a presentation I decided to save up for a PS6 instead, but I wonder: is Sony testing the waters for increasing PS6's MSRP? Do you think that 10th gen consoles could easily break those 600 USD and 700 EUR price points? Thanks for your wonderful work!

Retro Sean

Related question, what price point do you think would have avoided so many people howling in dismay?

malcolm341

So what's the deal with Space Marine 2 on PC, I have i9 10900k CPU and geForce RTX 3090 is my CPU just too old to play this game at 1440p 60fps?

Taggen86

Heard you had something going on with destin at IGN. Will you inform us when that #content is up?

DudleyTheGentleman

With the inclusion of ML/Tensor hardware in PS5 Pro. Why do you think Sony hasn't invested in a ML based frame generation technology like DLSS-FG?

Communist Mister Rogers

Do you think there’s any chance Sony might revive WipeOut in a post Astrobot world?

DyeHardX86

Hi, now that we know the PS5 PRO will launch at $700US/€800 do you think Microsoft will try harder to further reduce the Prices of Series X|S via Die-shrink?

Sloth

In the PS5 Pro Direct, you talked about people possibly moving from console to PC given the rising console prices. But could this era of high console prices also see more people moving from playing new games to playing more retro titles? The retro scene often feels like a more positive space and the Steamdeck with Emudeck, Switch Online etc. have made it much easier for newcomers to get into older titles in recent years.

Kipters

My guess is price, apparently cartridge prices are a problem even for (relatively) cheap media like Switch carts, I wouldn't imagine how much a hundreds-of-gigabytes "cart" would cost... And you'd still need an SSD for updates Compared to discs that cost almost nothing to press it's probably too much

HimmelFlugzeug

Hello there! So, do we already know what P!SSeR technically needs in order to be utilized? Is it specific AI hardware that is going to be part of RDNA 4 as well, or just the PS5 Pro? If the former, what do you think are the chances we'll see some upsampling improvements for AMD users on PC as well? Such as PiSS3R being used in PC ports of PlayStation games (unlikely in my opinion), or AMD also working on a new approach that is better than FSR 2 (a little less unlikely than option 1, but I believe it when I see it)?

Ryan Luker

Yeah, I had similar thoughts but the new AMD stuff (NPU type dealo) would only be in future cards (similar to how DLSS needs components from 2xxx series and above?). Not sure PSSR would come to PC via those AMD cards but maybe instead this is a peek at what AMD has been cooking as a competitor to DLSS as they would leverage the same NPU for their own upscaling solution.

Alan

Hi Team, With the announcement of the 5Pro, Sony has fired the starting pistol on the 10th Gen! Seeing the 5Pro specs where do you think the PS6 ? I am thinking PS6 announced Q4 2026 to be released in 2027! CPU/GPU - AMD Zen4 & RDNA 3 (custom) SoC. RAM - 32 GB of GDDR6 SDRAM. SSD - PS5's weird 825 GB. Dedicated Ai / Machine Learning SoC. SSD slot. Digital only (disc drive external option). No controller, uses existing DualSense. £600 to £650 (maybe £699 with inflation).

tod weitzel

I've been assuming for most of the past few generations that $800-900 lets you build a gaming pc that's equal to, or mildly better than, the current generation's top end console. Does the PS5 Pro's $700 price tag move those goalposts at all?

Saskira

Howdy DF Team, I hope all is well in the land of digital excellence. I've been pondering over PSSR and the PC/ Console AI arms race to tool up on all things upscaling and frame gen. Will the next generation of console hardware not really be fought over traditional hardware specs or cloud nonsense but rather who has the best trained AI upscaler? Nintendo may have access to DLSS, Sony now has PSSR and Microsoft has Auto SR (I think that’s a thing). Though PC will hopefully be the place for all of them (not sure about PSSR coming to the PC though)

Vassil M

What do you make of the entirety of the staff of Annapurna Interactive resigning? What will happen to Remedy’s deal with AP?

Someguyperson

I can't help but keep thinking about how detailed Mark Cerny's shirt looked in the high quality video compared to the YouTube video. It's very difficult to discern quality differences between consoles when the video compression destroys the very thing you're trying to improve. Which also leads me to ask, have you guys changed your wardrobe to accommodate a higher quality video like Mark has here? It's almost like he's saying "If you can't see all the detail in my shirt, you're watching this in the wrong format."

Alan

Hi gents, It doesn't seem to end, MS lays off another 650 people from it's gaming division and Annapurna’s entire games workforce has resigned because they were not being spun-off! (very weird imo), Megan is about the creative vision not money, she likely wanted to keep a steady ship where a profitable division covers the losses of another and this changes over time. So MS is backtracking on what they said to the FTC about job cuts, and where does this leave Annapurna Interactive, your thoughts please?

Treefinngers

Since SLI will never be a thing again.. and Nvidia gobbled up the company responsible for dedicated PhysX is there any future on our current timeline in which Nvidia designs any "add on" dedicated expansion hardware again? Like an "AI" Ray Tracing/DLSS 3 accelerator? Slot it in your 2nd PCIE to add Frame gen/ ray reconstruction to 20 & 30 series cards. Or to bolster even the flagship for those with money to burn? It seems now they will only ever allow one card (with as much power they deem fit) to run supreme. Ignoring the fact SLI only worked sometimes...Do you gents also miss the times when there was fun to be had experimenting on AC Unity with 2 high end GPU's? Because I miss the content

ConcreteLlama

I've just seen Jedi Survivor has had a PC update, allegedly addressing performance and removing Denuvo. Will this finally fix PC performance woes? Will you survive booting this game up again?

Hansen

Dear DF Professionals, given the recent early performance leaks for the PS5Pro by Moore‘s Law Is Dead, what are your thoughts about this? Especially the teased easiness of optimisation for developers?

inebriatedPorcupine

Hey DF! Remedy has recently announced that due to licensing issues a new update is rolling out for the original "Alan Wake" replacing the song "Space Oddity" with another. I find this act, of retroactively altering an already purchased single-player game horrible, harming the original artistic intent as well as basic consumer rights. What do you think, and will Steam's ability to play older versions of a purchased game come to the rescue? Thanks!

NorskLuna

Hey DF! Do you think more shooters like Call of Duty or Battlefield will get an 120FPS mode on PS5 Pro?

Reyes9

Hello DF team! Moore's Law Is Dead just had a livestream on yt last night and revealed some interesting information about the PS5 Pro. What do you guys make of it?

BigFoot

Hey guys. I've been curious about this for a while. Among the four main RT features (GI, AO, shadows and reflections), how would you rank them by importance? Personally, I'm a huge fan of RT GI and reflections, however RT AO and especially RT shadows don't really do much for me. Thanks and keep up the great work!

Michael Pearn

Hey DF boffins, wizzes and prognosticators, I’m curious as to why frame generation wasn’t mentioned as one of the value pillars of the new PS5 Pro? Are they going to rely on some combination of FSR3 frame gen and PSSR, to potentially get some games from 40 to 80 fps or 60 to 120 fps?

VeryProfessionalDodo

Just to give you reasoning as to why this happens. Publishers normally buy licenses that have a fixed expiration date. When they reach that date, a game will have to either be changed, or delisted. This has happened with so many games at this point that it’s insane the amount of art that cannot be legally purchased anymore. So if the choice is between delisting a game, or changing a few songs, now it becomes obvious why these patches exist.

VeryProfessionalDodo

I would be more inclined to believe that PlayStation has PiSSeR exclusivity, but it will help AMD build a new form of FSR in the future

VeryProfessionalDodo

Very interesting point! I think it’s just good to be in places where hype has already disappeared, since the communities there are often more level headed

VeryProfessionalDodo

It has already been posted on IGN, in case you’re wondering

VeryProfessionalDodo

You already have supersampling for most games, if you have a 1080p screen! If a game is running at a higher resolution (which it probably is), it downscales to 1080p, so you have better image quality than native 1080p

VeryProfessionalDodo

I think you’re right on the money with Sony having a chokehold on the European markets. If we had tougher competition here, they probably wouldn’t have pulled this pricing stunt to the degree they have

VeryProfessionalDodo

It would be killer timing, but I’ve learned not to expect anything and then be pleasantly surprised with Valve Time :(

VeryProfessionalDodo

Wow, didn’t know it would be 4nm! I wonder if the base PS5 could also get a node shrink, solely for energy efficiency if the yields are good enough for their margins

DaJaCo (Dan)

Will come down to total build cost, yield at 4nm is probably solid now - it's more a question of which major products it would be competing with / keeping the node price high. If it lets them trim more metal off the Heatsink solution, perhaps they could do it even while the node cost is a little high.

DaJaCo (Dan)

Why would anyone buy a PS5 PRO for $699 when they could buy a sparkly 2TB series X for $599, that doesn't play playstation games, or xbox games as well as the Pro?

inebriatedPorcupine

Truly, I understand, but I want us, the consumers that have already bought the game, to not be impacted by this change (i.e. same as the owner of the original hard-copy).

carrotsauce

Hello DF folks! Lovely as ever. Having watched the PSSR bonanza from both DF and IGN this week (with Rich looking nice in his dress shirt), should I wait until the comparison between PS5 and PS5 Professional for when GTA6 inevitably releases before I purchase the latter? Right now it doesn't really seem to be palatable for me. Do you also think that all the backlash regarding its price will make Sony rethink the MSRP or will they just keep it as it is because it'll sell out anyway?

Helvetica Bold

Hey DF, do you think the PS5 Pro will improve Tempest audio in a meaningful way? Could we expect more 3D audio objects or even hi res audio? Cerny seems passionate about Tempest so I would be surprised that he wouldn’t spend time improving it for the Pro. Sorry for the non graphics related question. :D

Xbox Ally Has Gone ROGue!

Probably late to this week's suggestion. The whole PS5 Pro discourse online makes me think of more on the potential 2026 date for Xbox's next gen console, and this lead me to wonder, if Xbox is gonna "abandon ship" on Series console earlier this gen, should they do it last gen too, and in consequence, making Xbox One X the "Next Gen Xbox" and a successor to Xbox One in 2017? And then, Series X as One X's "Mid-Gen Pro Console"?

alexrdavies

I suspect in part, because (1) many TVs still can't go past 60Hz, and (2) frame generation up to 60Hz has relatively high input lag and doesn't look that great. If all the Pro's customers had 120Hz VRR TVs then it may be more prominent. It's also possible that (3) PSSR doesn't do frame gen. It's hard.

ChowYunMatt

Hey friends! Finally joined the patreon after years of fandom. Better late than never? With the PS5 Pro price, is it possible that the Pro is sort of a sacrificial lamb to test the price waters? If Sony comes in with a $600 PS6 in 2028 they will look like a hero while actually raising the price of the console generation.

zurce

PS5 Pro made abundantly clear how bad YT compression has gotten, time for creators to start uploading in 8K so the downscale alleviate those problems? PS: why didn't Sony use the PS5 store to host the video? Like apple does for their keynotes

zurce

Regarding John FF7 Image quality controversy, why do we listen to people with 1080p TN panels on image quality? If a game only runs well in a 4090 we call out the issue, and if a game requires you a 10 year old tv to look good, we should also call it

Richard Tucker

Hi guys (and hi Jake!) have you got any ideas already for the kind of content you want to produce on the PS5 PRO? Any particular titles, or pillars of the 'BIG THREE' you will focus on? I expect Rich has something meaty cooking or being prepared to be cooked, no?

Nando Calrissian

Dear DF team, Sony's pitch for the PS5 Pro is that gamers won't have to choose between performance mode and quality mode. An alternative approach could have been to release a console with half the GPU power and 10% less CPU performance, delivering the fidelity of performance mode and the performance of quality mode. This PlayStation 5, potentially dubbed the 'PS5 Noob,' would be sold without a disk drive, faceplate, power cable, or controller, but—mysteriously—it would include two stands in the box. What would be the right price point for the PS5 Noob so that you'd feel comfortable recommending it?

Bewilderbeest

Huh interesting, I didn't realise that!

Darren Keig

Hello DF crew! I've been mulling over ways to incentivise publishers to release decent PC ports. Do you think there is any value in tracking (for example) EA's last n major PC releases, and displaying them in a chart as "good enough" or "not good enough"? Maybe there should be a chart that shows the games on release day, and another showing if they were then fixed within, say, 3 months (or ever). The objective here is for bad ports to not just simply be brushed under the carpet, but to be something that a company should consider fixing, to protect their perceived image. What do you think of something like this, and have you considered any alternative solutions to this issue? Thanks babes!

Bavarian_Sloth

Servus! As far as I am informed, FG/FSR3 are calculated by the GPU with a "real" image followed by an "artificially" generated image. Which would mean it calculates the image equaly by 50 + 50% or e. g. 45 + 45 frames per second = 90 fps. However I noticed that this doesn't always add up like this. In a lot of games (like Wukong) I noticed that the "artificially" generated frames are often below or above 50%. E. g. 90 with FG on and 60 with FG off. Why is that? Dankeschön und auf Wiedersehen!

BespokeEP

Hello DF team, I know I missed the question period so I’ll ask again next week but just wondering your thoughts on this. I don’t understand why people are blaming Sony for this $700 price when 1.5 months ago Xbox announced the same Series X but with a 2TB SSD, for $600 exclamation point. They didn’t even bother improving the insanely outdated wifi 5, and three 5Gbps USB A ports. Thera was not a single negative video, or news article written about how outrageous the price was. There were comments but no entire podcasts or full news articles written about how horrible the price is. No one has even mentioned it during their Sony is greedy rage videos or during these PC builds where they get the slowest versions of every part from AliExpress and it still comes out to +$900. This to Sony would likely suggest that people are ok with that $600 Series X price and considering the professional has upgraded pretty much everything except for the speed of the SSD, $100-180 USD more is incredibly reasonable. People seem to just love blaming Sony for everything, like $70 games, even though Sony didn’t release a $70 game until late 2022. If Xbox hadn’t gotten away with the $600 Series X, I imagine the professional pisser would have cost at least $50 less, likely closer to $100 less. What happened to the PlayStation media bias? Oh right, it’s not a real thing double exclamation point