The high-end version of the PlayStation 4 console price gets dropped by $100.
According to a listing on the Walmart website, you can snag a 1 terabyte PlayStation 4 Pro for $299.93. The MSRP for this, the most powerful PlayStation 4 available, is $399.99 making the Walmart price a discount of a little over $100 or about 25% off. Amazon also has a discount for the PS4 Pro, but their discount is not as steep at $319, which is roughly 20% off.
The PS4 Pro is the gently upgraded version of the PS4 Slim. The hardware enhancements allow the Pro to output gameplay in higher resolution and at higher frame rates than the Slim. The Pro can also output 4K resolution from streaming services like YouTube and Netflix, which the Slim is not capable of accomplishing.Â
While the discount is great for those who haven’t checked out the PS4 yet, the price drop presents a dilemma for fans of the Sony console who haven’t upgraded yet. Given the recent revelation that the PlayStation 5 will be backwards compatible with PS4 games, picking up an upgrade so close to the release of the PS5 may not be a great idea. The very existence of the Pro actually makes this kind of late-cycle purchase more appealing. If there is eventually a PS5 Pro, it makes a bit more sense for some budget-minded gamers to grab a PS4 Pro now at a discount and just skip the PS5 launch hysteria entirely. Then, when the inevitable PS5 Slim is released, the last production run of the launch version might be available briefly at a discount also.
This is all assumes that the next console generation will resemble the current one. Even though Google Stadia isn’t a great service for consumers, it excels as a proof of concept for streaming service style gaming. If Sony and Microsoft work out a way to make a Stadia style service work on the PS 5 and the upcoming Xbox Series S, there may be a much longer wait between launch and upgrade compared to the PS4, Xbox One generation.
Also, the PS VR works pretty well with one of these and is reasonably comfy as VR headsets go.