Sony says the $700 PS5 Pro "may" stabilize or improve performance of over 8,500 backward compatible PS4 games, while 40+ PS5 games will get Pro patches in November

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The PS5 Pro has officially been revealed with a November 7 release date and an eye-watering $700 price point, and amidst effusive praise for new processors and resolution bumps, PS4 backwards compatibility actually got a small nod from ol' Sony. The new console "may," in the words of Sony platform business group CEO Hideaki Nishino, benefit upwards of 8,500 PS4 games playable on PS5 Pro through improved performance and resolution.

"Other enhancements include PS5 Pro Game Boost, which can apply to more than 8,500 backward compatible PS4 games playable on PS5 Pro," Nishino explains in a PlayStation Blog post. "This feature may stabilize or improve the performance of supported PS4 and PS5 games. Enhanced Image Quality for PS4 games is also available to improve the resolution on select PS4 games."

The word "may" is doing some heavy lifting here. I'm reading this as Sony's way of saying that, yeah, the PS5 Pro specs are substantially stronger and that power boost may trickle down to uplift PS4 games, but since there are so dang many of them, they don't know exactly how much, or how noticeably, each game will benefit. The Enhanced Image Quality available for PS4 games on PS5 pro, however, at least seems more definitive and visible, though it's still for "select games. This will all warrant some hands-on testing once the new console is out.

Obviously, the PS5 Pro is primarily about making PS5 games look and run their best, so to that end some 40 to 50 PS5 games, according to an early report from CNET, will receive free Pro upgrade patches when the system launches this November.

Going forward, enhanced games will be marked by the "PS5 Pro Enhanced" label. Additionally, lead PS5 architect Mark Cerny confirms that games will see frame rate improvements on PS5 Pro even without dedicated upgrade patches, which is no surprise.

PS5 Pro pre-order details are here – here's when you can sink $700 into this mid-generation refresh.