The PlayStation 5 Pro was officially revealed earlier this week, and everyone is talking about its $700 price tag instead of its new PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution tech.
People are naturally focused on the cost, as $700 is quite a lot for an upgrade to a console that’s only been around for four years. Mike Ybarra, the former Blizzard president, mentioned there’s a way to make this price less painful. He referred to it as “one weird trick,” like those spam ads say.
Ybarra highlighted a method that many gamers had already considered: trading in their current PS5 to slice the price of the new PS5 Pro by half.
Think of this a bit differently. Pro models, or any in-generation upgrade, is about existing users upgrading. So when teams evaluate the cost – they don’t want to lose money on each console as that puts pressure on other parts of the business. And they think about how they can…
— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik)
GameStop is currently offering between $350 to $385 in store credit for used PS5s, with the higher rate for models with a disc drive. But if many people decide to trade in their consoles, would GameStop keep these rates or lower them? Just because these rates are available now doesn’t mean they will be in November. With GameStop closing more stores, this could mess up the plan, especially since the PS5 Pro doesn’t include a disc drive, and the add-on costs another $80 and is already selling out.
Fans, this could really change the game.
This strategy isn’t perfect if you haven’t upgraded to a PS5 yet. Without a modern console to trade in, the PS5 Pro is still too expensive for some. But if many used PS5s flood the market—even with GameStop’s markups—it might help those who haven’t made the jump to the current console generation.
The PS5 Pro will be released by Sony on November 7, and preorders are starting soon.
