PlayStation CEO says PS5 Pro was a ‘5-year project’, development started before PS5 launch

PlayStation‘s co-CEO says development on the PS5 Pro started before the PS5 launched.

Sony’s console was released on November 19, 2020 but according to Sony Interactive Entertainment‘s platform business group CEO Hideaki Nishino, development on its mid-generation upgrade had already started before then.

“We have done Pro in the last generation,” Nishino told Variety. “We learned a lot from there. When we were selling PS4 Pro, in addition to the PS4, 20% of customers actually got the PS4 Pro.

“It was high end, it was premium tier. So there are potential users acquiring those kind of units. Interestingly enough, it was not just about highly engaged users – actually, new users came to PlayStation to get PS4 Pro, as well.

“So we started working on PS5 Pro even before PS5 launched — it was another five-year project for us. So there was a conversation around whether we wanted to do another Pro or not.

“But the main thing was, there are technologies we can grow up in three years time or five years time. So the innovation and technology advancement is more quicker in a modern world. Phones are updating every year, PCs are updating every year.

“I don’t think we’d go every year updates, but there are things we can package together to bring the greatest things into the game console segment range. So that’s the vision.”

Nishino added that Sony never releases new hardware without already planning what its successor could end up becoming.

“We’re kind of happy to see [that] most engaged gaming users are interested in the PS5 Pro, and then I’m pretty sure new users will grab the PS5 Pro as well,” he said. “If it’s the PlayStation you want to get, that’s the thing. So that’s where we designed the generation at this moment.

“We design everything with having one ahead in our mind. It’s not like we just make a next step and we don’t know about the two steps ahead. That’s not our way of working, because we need to make sure that the 10-year-old generation cycle continues to be going as well.”