PlayStation 5 Pro sales pumping in South Africa

Local Sony PlayStation distributor Gamefinity says the PlayStation 5 Pro has been well received by fans in South Africa, with promising sales figures considering the supply constraints it faced.

Sony unveiled the upgraded PlayStation 5 console in September 2024 with a price tag of $699 (then R12,530). It launched locally in mid-December 2024 with a recommended retail price of R19,499.

“PS5 Pro has been positively received in the market with sales meeting expectations at launch considering we had supply constraints,” Gamefinity told MyBroadband.

“Feedback from local gamers is, in general, consistent with the overall positive response globally. As more local gamers get onto the console we’re excited for them to share their thoughts and experience.”

The console was launched locally just before the start of the 2024 festive season, and Gamefinity said only a small amount of stock remained in the market.

“In terms of sales in December, the bulk of the input sold through, with only small pockets of stock in certain retail channels across market,” it said.

At Sony’s launch event, lead PlayStation architect Mark Cerny said the PlayStation 5 Pro can run games at higher resolutions and faster frame rates without users needing to switch between modes.

Its rendering speeds are also 45% faster than the standard PlayStation 5.

In a blog post, PlayStation said the Pro edition will improve the performance of older titles, adding that various titles will receive free software patches to enable PlayStation 5 Pro users to take advantage of the console’s features.

The titles include Hogwarts Legacy, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Spider-Man 2.

“We’ve added even more powerful ray tracing that provides more dynamic reflection and refraction of light. This allows the rays to be cast at double, and at times triple, the speeds of the current PS5 console,” added Sony.

“We’re also introducing PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, an AI-driven upscaling that uses a machine learning-based technology to provide super sharp image clarity by adding an extraordinary amount of detail.”

Cerny said the PlayStation 5 Pro is the most powerful console the company has ever built.

With the higher price tag, the PlayStation 5 Pro wasn’t designed to outperform the standard console in terms of sales.

Industry analyst Serkan Toto alluded to this around the time of the launch.

“This is about Sony skimming the absolute top end of the market, targeting hardcore PlayStation users only, said Toto. “It’s not a mass-market device.”

Gamefinity told MyBroadband that the standard PlayStation 5 console remains in the lead in terms of sales. However, the short time frame of sales in South Africa doesn’t paint the whole picture.

“The PS5 Pro was under allocation on our initial input just prior to Christmas. The year ahead will be telling in terms of the sales mix between the consoles,” it said.

South African console gamers faced a long wait for the PlayStation 5 Pro to arrive in the country. Sony unveiled the console in September 2024, and it only became available for pre-order locally in November.

This was because Gamefinity was awaiting regulatory clearance to import the consoles.

Customers can get the beefed-up PlayStation console from retailers like Incredible, Hi-Fi Corp, Takealot, Koodoo, Computer Mania, and Game, provided they still have stock.