Sony’s PS4 Pro is expected to represent the next stage in console gaming, where instead of gamers having to wait 7-10 years for a hardware refresh, we could be looking at more frequent updates meant to keep up with the times. Unfortunately for some reason, it seems that despite the newer and more powerful hardware in the PS4 Pro, some games are having issues with it.
In a report by Digital Foundry (via GameSpot), there are a couple of games that are running into performance issues when played on the PS4 Pro. These aren’t unknown titles either but rather big ones, such as The Last of Us and Skyrim Special Edition. In their report, Digital Foundry discovered that for both games, there are moments in the game where the frame rates actually dip below that of the regular PS4.
They also note that this kind of goes against Sony’s guidelines which states that no game should perform worse than the original machine, meaning that all PS4 Pro games should run just as well if it were to be played on the PS4, or run even better. For example in The Last of Us, which seems to be the most affected, there are areas in the game in which the PS4 held a steady 60fps, but on the PS4 Pro we would see dips in fps by as much as 5.
Now it should be noted that this isn’t so much the PS4 Pro’s problem, since there are other games that run just fine, but it could be due to optimization issues with the game. It is disappointing as The Last of Us is a visually stunning game. We’re not sure if the game’s developers plan on issuing an update to deal with this, but perhaps it should be worth noting if you’re the sort of gamer who is bothered by inconsistent frame rates.