Sony announced that the PlayStation5 Pro will be available in Malaysia on 7 November. Participating shops will accept pre-orders starting 26 September. The price will be RM3,849.

On 11 September, Sony announced that the PlayStation will be priced at 119,980JPY and will be released.

To Buy Or Not To Buy

While it is good to see that Malaysia will be one of the first markets to get the PS5 Pro, the half-step console’s price is higher than expected. Also, it does not come with a disc drive and a vertical stand.

In the video explainer, Sony let the dulcet tones of the PS5 Lead Architect Mark Cerny elaborate on the advancements that the PS5 Pro is bringing to the table. In short, it’ll have more computing performance, more graphical power, and better upscaling.

But who is the PS5 Pro for?

The gaming scene has drastically changed over the past few years. High-fidelity games are endangered, small fun games are thriving, and big money-making games are designed to run on cheap phones. In other words, it feels like Sony is going down a different trajectory than the gaming industry.

Cerny himself said that three-quarters of PS5 gamers prefer performance over fidelity, and the consol’s recent biggest hit, Astro Bot, proves that what gamers really want over all else is a fun game, realistic or otherwise.

The PS5 Pro is a tough sell. Gamers who want high fidelity tend to get a PC; those who don’t would get the Switch, while those with no money would game on their phones. At the same time, gamers who would get the PS5 Pro here would want to get the disc drive and vertical stand (both sold separately) to complete the set and be able to use physical media.

The gaming landscape will continue to evolve, and perhaps the pendulum of gamers’ demand will swing in Sony’s favour once more. But as it is, without games justifying PS5 Pro’s creation, I think it’s best to wait and see.