Sony promotes PS5 Pro with game from Microsoft's rival

The highlight of the new campaign from Sony is curious: the Japanese company is promoting the technical advantages of the PlayStation 5 Pro using Forza Horizon 5, an exclusive title from the Microsoft ecosystem. The movement sparked discussions about marketing strategies and the use of third-party benchmarks to validate hardware improvements.

The advertising campaign points out that the PS5 Pro delivers enhanced performance when running Forza Horizon 5, even though the game has never been officially released for the PlayStation platform. According to promotional materials, the console would be capable of achieving 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, in addition to presenting improvements in loading times, thanks to the optimized SSD and the new GPU with greater processing capacity.

The technical basis of the campaign seems to rely on independent retrocompatibility tests carried out on modified versions of the game or running via streaming, something that was not detailed by Sony. So far, neither of the companies has officially confirmed the use of Forza Horizon 5 on the new console, nor how the title would operate within the PlayStation ecosystem.

Since its release in November 2021, Forza Horizon 5 has established itself as one of the biggest open-world racing franchises today, with over 30 million registered players, according to updated numbers in 2024. Produced by Playground Games and distributed by Xbox Game Studios, the game is optimized for Xbox Series X|S and PC, with support for technologies like Ray Tracing and performance mode.

By using the title as a reference to showcase the power of the PS5 Pro, Sony suggests that it is concerned about the graphical power perception compared to the competition, even if it involves using games from a rival. Analysts see in the campaign a strategy to position the new console as a premium alternative, even without enough exclusives revealed so far.

"It's a move that suggests confidence in the hardware, but also exposes a lack of proprietary titles with comparable technical appeal," noted analyst Daniel Ahmad from Niko Partners, in a recent analysis published on GamesIndustry.biz.

There is still no official release date for the PS5 Pro, nor a complete technical specification disclosed. But the use of external benchmarks, like Forza Horizon 5, reveals the tone of the narrative that the company wants to adopt: a more powerful console, even if it needs to resort to the competition's catalog to prove it.