PS5 Pro? The former president of Blizzard criticizes mid-gen upgrades, here’s why

With PS5 Pro now ever closer, Mike Ybarra, former president of Blizzardhas criticized the mid-gen upgrades and the choices that lead manufacturers to launch updated consoles asking their users to purchase the hardware again in exchange for superior performance.

“I am torn,” Ybarra wrote. “As a user and developer I like the idea of ​​having more power, but it is incredibly expensive to refurbish such hardware and the money is taken from somewhere, usually by the development teams.”

“Furthermore, it is an upgrade that it costs the consumer a lotas these are typically premium devices (see PS5 Pro technical specifications, Ed.), with a low overall production volume, and this can make developing games for the platform more challenging for all studios.”

“This is especially true when there are signs of a console generation that is in the last phase of its life cycle. I personally believe that we should focus everything on new generation hardware rather than small increments mid-cycle.”

“Usually the return on investment simply doesn’t exist for users, at least on a scale that would move the needle. There has always been the idea of update consoles like you do PCsthat is, making sure that the consumer can replace the GPU (perhaps thanks to a modular design) and fit a new one.”

“It never happened, however: it is a complex approach, which presents a number of different advantages and challenges. You would need to invest in the early stages of hardware design to make it feasible, but it can be done. Of course, it may not be worth the effort and there is no guarantee that users will want it.”

“Rather the innovative technologies like NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR are the ones I would invest in mid-cycle“, continued the former president of Blizzard. “The hardware already exists (for the most part), and it would be possible to enable the functionality through innovative software, which gives the platform greater capabilities at no cost to the consumer, as well as with minimal work on the part of the developers”.

“What lies beyond DLSS and FSR is an area of ​​innovation for the future and a fantastic use of AI, compared to mid-gen hardware upgrades. If everything was free mid-cycle updates would be greatbut is not so.”