It looks like we should now start to question if the PlayStation 5 Pro is releasing this year at all.
A lot of gamers seem to have pinned their hopes for this year on the PlayStation 5 Pro. The big reason for this certainty was a leak of information about a PlayStation 5 Pro being real. That leak came from a web portal Sony set up for third party developers, and several news outlets confirmed and verified the leak.
Thanks to the leak, we got a lot of early information on the console’s supposed specs, and possible technologies ,such as PSSR. Rather infamously, Digital Foundry released a video explaining that they do not believe the upcoming open world title Grand Theft Auto 6 will run at 60 FPS on the PlayStation 5 Pro’s leaked specs.
Today, we seem to have a new rumor that twists the knife a bit more for the fans who are anticipating this mid cycle refresh console.
Tom Henderson was talking to VideoTechUK over Twitter about this year’s Gamescom, which will be held at the Cologne Fair in Germany from August 21 to 25 this year.
VideoTechUK asked Tom:
“I guess September will probably be a decent month since PS5 Pro is most likely going to be announced around then?”
And this was Tom’s reply:
“If it releases this year!”
If you were wondering how much credibility Tom Henderson has on this topic, you should know that Tom is one of the primary sources writing about the PlayStation 5 Pro himself. Here’s his latest article on Insider Gaming, where he explains the PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced label. This label will signify specific games will have better performance specifically on the new updated console.
So if you trusted his information then, you have to put some weight on what he’s saying now. Or, you never believed any of these rumors in the first place. The thing is, that’s a reasonable position to take, because Sony has yet to officially confirm or announce that they are making a PlayStation 5 Pro.
Here’s the possible reason Tom is now casting doubts on the PlayStation 5 Pro’s release. Even though this information came from a leak, companies like Sony and Microsoft can always change their plans. And in an ironic way, it could be the leaks themselves, and the consequences of that information going public, that leads to the decision to change plans.
We don’t really know if Sony plans to release a PlayStation 5 Pro, at all. For all we know, they may be suffering too much from the contraction in the video game business right now, and are rolling back on expensive initiatives like a mid-console refresh, in favor of preparing a better PlayStation 6.
Sony has already been rumored to roll back the checks for PlayStation VR 2. While that has not been confirmed, and Sony can change their mind, the circumstantial evidence suggests that it’s credible for Sony to pull back on a lot of PlayStation investments.
PlayStation’s two CEO’s Hideaki Nishino and Hermen Hulst, both directly answerable to Hiroki Totoki, have the unhappy task of getting the game division back in order. That’s already meant cancelling games and laying off employees. With an uncertain immediate future in the horizon, the three bosses may have made the call to roll back whatever money spend they have now, and save it for the hopeful better future the PlayStation 6 will bring. But for now, we will have to wait and see, if the company even announces this product at all this year.
