A $700 PC Can’t Compete with the PS5 Pro, Battlefield’s Vince Zampella Says: “It’s an Amazing Thing”

[Tsing]

The PlayStation 5 Pro, an updated version of the 2020 video game console that Sony Interactive Entertainment has described as being the most visually impressive way to play games on PlayStation, delivering a GPU upgrade, advanced ray tracing, PS Spectral Super Resolution, and other premium features, is actually a great deal that "makes sense" despite its $699.99 price tag, according to the latest comments from Vince Zampella, Head of Respawn and Group GM for EA Studios.

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[Grimlakin]

Seems like sony is leveraging all of its developers to pump up the fomo.

 

[Riccochet]

It's not an amazing thing. Sony loses huges amount of money on selling hardware. The console has never been a profit driver for Sony, M$ or Nintendo.

They make their money in software, accessory and subscription sales.

 

[LazyGamer]

"...yet", the part he left out.

 

[Endgame]

that also neglects PC upgrades.

Give me someone that bought an x470 based system, say a 2700X or whatever. I’ll flash the bios, drop in a 5700x3d and a 4070 super and it will blow the doors off the PS 5 pro. Or, at this point, drop in the 5700x3d and wait for the 5070 to drop and spread the purchases out a little

 

[MadMummy76]

Consoles used to be the cheap alternatives to a gaming PC, $700 is not cheap enough for the market that can't afford a decent gaming PC.

 

[Zarathustra]

It's not an amazing thing. Sony loses huges amount of money on selling hardware. The console has never been a profit driver for Sony, M$ or Nintendo.

They make their money in software, accessory and subscription sales.

Exactly. It's a false comparison. If they actually had to sell the PS5 Pro at typical PC hardware mark-up levels, then the cost comparison would make more sense.

Right now buyers of consoles get the "expensive inkjet printer cartridge" experience. Sure you get a "cheap" console below cost, but then you have to pay for subscriptions, more expensive games, etc. etc.

Over the lifetime of the console, an equivalent PC is a much better deal.

Consoles are just a way to screw over the ignorant.

That said, even at the $700 pricepoint, I might be able to get pretty close, if I shop around, even with new hardware.

An AMD RX 7700 should probably roughly tie the PS5 Pro. ($389)
Then I could get the cheapest CPU+Mobo bundle at Microcenter. $259 buys you a 3-way combo right now with an i5-12600KF, MSI Z790-P Pro WiFi and 16GB DDR4 (that's a pretty insane deal btw.)

With those 4 main components out of the way I have spent $648.

To be fair, it will be pretty tough to get a drive, case, power supply, cooler and case fans for the remaining $52, but if I am allowed a handful of spare pre-existing parts (and/or used ones) it is totally possible.

But to re-iterate, based on initial purchase price only, the PS5 Pro is indeed a pretty good deal for the performance you get, because they sell it at a loss. Too bad that's not where the costs end.

 

[Denpepe]

o be fair, it will be pretty tough to get a drive, case, power supply, cooler and case fans for the remaining $52

Console comes with a controller so you need to add one of those too.

 

[DrezKill]

Console comes with a controller so you need to add one of those too.

Not if you don't play any games that don't use a controller. Like Z only plays first-person games, so he has no reason to ever use a controller.

And the prices of controllers are insane. Used to be $40 was a normal price. You can still see that for Xbox-fambly controllers when good sales come up. But Nintendo and then Sony started standardizing $70 controllers, which is absolute bullshit. And I think the DualSense just recently got a price increase.

 

[Denpepe]

Not if you don't play any games that don't use a controller

I did not strickly mean controller as in a gamepad, mouse and keyboard also count, does not matter what you have lying around, if you want to compare you can't leave out some parts out of convenience.

 

[Denpepe]

And the prices of controllers are insane. Used to be $40 was a normal price. You can still see that for Xbox-fambly controllers when good sales come up. But Nintendo and then Sony started standardizing $70 controllers, which is absolute bullshit. And I think the DualSense just recently got a price increase.

There are good alternatives to first party controllers like https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D736BCNM/?tag=thefpsreview-20

 

[MadMummy76]

Console comes with a controller so you need to add one of those too.

For PC? That's crazy talk! I play on PC everything I can specifically to avoid having to play with a controller.
Of course a decent gaming mouse might cost as much as a controller, but that's not a necessity, we were able to play with mechanical mice back in the day, so even the cheapest modern optical mouse will get you 98% there, anything more is a luxury.

 

[Denpepe]

For PC? That's crazy talk! I play on PC everything I can specifically to avoid having to play with a controller.
Of course a decent gaming mouse might cost as much as a controller, but that's not a necessity, we were able to play with mechanical mice back in the day, so even the cheapest modern optical mouse will get you 98% there, anything more is a luxury.

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Click to view the GIF

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edit: Fixed the gif for clarity

 

[LazyGamer]

For PC? That's crazy talk! I play on PC everything I can specifically to avoid having to play with a controller.

And here I am playing platformers and racing games with a controller on a PC... hooked up to my TV and home theater. Because I can, and it's cool.

Even have a controller on my desktop (which is ultrawide and has a faster GPU), because that's also cool.

 

[DrezKill]

And here I am playing platformers and racing games with a controller on a PC... hooked up to my TV and home theater. Because I can, and it's cool.

Even have a controller on my desktop (which is ultrawide and has a faster GPU), because that's also cool.

If you go here and scroll down, you'll see that I have a sh1t-ton of controllers I use on PC.

I always use the control scheme I feel is best for the particular game / game-type I am playing.

 

[MadMummy76]

snip broken iframe

Well, of course it goes over your head if you only read the first line.

And here I am playing platformers and racing games with a controller on a PC... hooked up to my TV and home theater. Because I can, and it's cool.

Even have a controller on my desktop (which is ultrawide and has a faster GPU), because that's also cool.

It's not about what is cool or uncool, I'm physically incapable of playing with any level of proficiency with a controller. Never was able to, going back to the ps1 era.

 

[DrezKill]

I'm physically incapable of playing with any level of proficiency with a controller. Never was able to, going back to the ps1 era.

When I try to play an FPS game with a controller, it looks like a drunk baby is playing.

 

[Riccochet]

I use a controller all the time to play emulator games. I've been using one of those 8Bitdoo hall effect controllers off Amazon. LTT just did a video on them. Seriously, if you like controllers for your PC get one of those. Best dang controller I've ever used. And they're only $50.

 

[Zarathustra]

For PC? That's crazy talk! I play on PC everything I can specifically to avoid having to play with a controller.
Of course a decent gaming mouse might cost as much as a controller, but that's not a necessity, we were able to play with mechanical mice back in the day, so even the cheapest modern optical mouse will get you 98% there, anything more is a luxury.

Well, you need some form of controls. If you are not buying a controller (which I am with you, I have never used a controller on a PC) you are still going to need a mouse and keyboard.

When I try to play an FPS game with a controller, it looks like a drunk baby is playing.

I'm with you. I remember when some friend brought GoldenEye and some form of Nintendo (Game Cube? N64? I can't remember) up to college just over 20 years ago and I gave it an honest try, but I found it completely unplayable. That and the split screen was stupid. It made me wonder if the only reason anyone ever enjoyed a console was because they had never experienced anything better...

That was the last time I tried to use a controller for FPS games.

All of that said, I can totally see some types of games benefiting from a controller, even on a PC. Particularly platformers, though they tend to be perfectly playable on a keyboard. Sports games might be one where you benefit from a controller (if you are into that sort of thing.) For driving games, yeah, a controller is certainly better than a Keyboard and Mouse, but if you are serious about it, you still probably want a wheel and pedals.

But I'm really just not into those games.

The only game in the history of games I really thought "this game really is best on a controller" was Katamari Damacy. That just wouldn't have worked without the dual sticks. I mean, it might actually be better if you hooked up two full sized joysticks, but that might be a little extreme.

 

[Endgame]

You really need a controller for something like street fighter or mortal combat. I bought one a long long time ago for my PC to Play fighter ports, but I never really kept up with it. I should really see if I there are better ports of games like that for PC…