Sony will sell only 13-15 million PlayStation 5 Pro – the $699 console will be bought by “superfans”

The updated Sony PlayStation 5 Pro game console with a price tag of $699 may sell approximately 13 to 15 million units during its entire existence, the analyst said. The device is aimed at the “superfans” of the PlayStation ecosystem and is unlikely to have a significant impact on its audience.

Image source: blog.playstation.com

Sony unveiled its new PlayStation 5 Pro console on Tuesday, and its $699 price tag drew mixed reactions from gamers. According to gaming industry analyst Rhys Elliott of MIDiA Research, the device is aimed at “superfans” and the company will sell 13-15 million units. The price tag of $700 is the golden mean, affordable for dedicated players. They’ve repeatedly demonstrated that they’re willing to spend an extra $200 for a high-end controller or gadget like the PlayStation Portal, and a higher price tag would provoke significant backlash.

Now the PlayStation and Xbox divisions, when launching new consoles, would set prices for the basic versions at $600 – this is confirmed by the example of the Microsoft Xbox Galaxy Black Edition, which differs from the simple Xbox Series X only in a 2 TB drive. And compared to this, the Sony PlayStation 5 Pro, which costs $100 more, does not seem outrageously expensive even without an optical drive. The success of the new PS5 Pro will depend on shipments and the implementation of updated features in games, but in practice it will likely be sold on par with the PS4 Pro – the company will sell 13-15 million Pro versions by the end of the life of the fifth-generation consoles.

The new console is unlikely to increase the player base, because it is intended primarily for fans of the brand, and among them it will sell well. On the one hand, it does not promise the kind of breakthrough that happened with the PS4 Pro – it offered 4K HDR on time. On the other hand, the Japanese manufacturer wisely, from the very release of the base PS5, gave the player a choice between a performance mode and high-quality graphics. We can’t forget about the 50 million PS4 owners who are waiting for a good reason to upgrade their console – some of whom may well shell out $700 for a PS5 Pro.