The PlayStation 5 Pro, an update to Sony Interactive Entertainment’s 2020 video game console that remains on track for launch on November 7 with several improvements, including an upgraded GPU, advanced ray tracing, and PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, is a much better deal than today’s most powerful gaming PCs despite its $699.99 MSRP, according to the latest statements from Renaud Charpentier, game director of Empire of the Ants at Tower Five. Charpentier, who shared his thoughts as part of an interview concerning his new Unreal Engine 5 real-time strategy game this week, explained that this is because “maxed-out” PCs can cost up to 5x more than PS5 Pro but still fail to deliver an experience that’s any better than what PlayStation offers. A trailer for Empire of the Ants, which launches on the same day as the PS5 Pro, can be found below.
…it is expected that most games will double their frame rate on the Pro or improve scene quality if they were already running in 60 on a PS5. Still, maxed out PCs are kind of “no limit” so they will of course be more powerful, but you can’t compare them. A maxed out PC is going to cost easily 3 to 5 times more and consume 3 to 5 times more electrical energy. But what is interesting and says a lot about the flattening silicon evolution curve is that your game on your monster PC is not going to look or play 3 to 5 times better than on a PS5 Pro console. There is a huge diminishing return now on high end silicon, and that might have an impact on the life cycle duration of console hardware.