€800 for the PS5 Pro is not expensive compared to other consoles: are players complaining for nothing?

News JVTech €800 for the PS5 Pro is not expensive compared to other consoles: are players complaining for nothing?

Home consoles: a luxury of yesteryear?

Who would have thought that the Neo Geo, this Japanese console released in 1990, was the equivalent of a high-end PC in terms of price? With its $649 at the time (around $1552 today), it was positioned as an exceptional product, reserved for a certain category of players. This console, renowned for its stunning graphics and demanding games, embodied the pinnacle of technology of the time.

The 3DO, launched in 1993, was not left out with an introductory price of $699 (around $1510 today). These high prices can be explained by the desire of manufacturers to offer ever more immersive gaming experiences, with better quality graphics and innovative features. However, these prohibitive prices have limited access to these consoles for a large part of the public. In a graphic published on the site Visual Capitalistwe thus notice that the price differences between consoles of yesteryear and modern consoles no longer have anything to do with it, when inflation is taken into account.

PS5 Pro: real aberration?

If the Neo Geo remains a special case, Sony is no stranger to high prices. The PlayStation 3, when it was released in 2006, cost $499, or $780 today. This price, already high at the time, demonstrated Sony’s desire to position its console as a high-end product in the face of increasingly fierce competition – Microsoft was starting to scare people. With the PS5 Pro ($699), Sony therefore seems to be returning to this strategy. The significant price gap with the standard PS5 ($499) and the PS4 Pro ($399) clearly shows that the Japanese firm wants to target an audience ready to invest in the ultimate gaming experience.

Overall, this price increase takes place in a context where video games have become a mature industry, with colossal development budgets and ever-increasing expectations from players. Next-generation consoles, with their graphics capabilities and online features, have become true entertainment centers, thus justifying higher prices. It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue with the next generations of consoles – the odds are quite low. Players, increasingly demanding, are willing to pay for quality, but they also expect manufacturers to justify these prices with technological innovations and ever more immersive gaming experiences.