They missed a wiiiiiiiiiiiide open layup. From a marketing perspective:
1) Bad reveal. I'm 100% convinced that the people running the first-show/announcement-stage of PlayStation products are 100% unqualified for their position(s). I'm not talking about the overused DEI-woke-casually racist nonsense that has infested YouTube and Elon's diary. I genuinely believe that the people who are being paid to plan the reveal and showcase of PlayStation products have resumes that need to be thoroughly investigated by their HR department. Showing PS4 ports and PC-available games for a $700 PS5 is extraordinary levels of dumb. It's like if Apple announced they would show the iPhone 16 and then they started their presentation by showing the iPhone 15 and Galaxy S24 looking perfectly fine. You never want people to think of things that undermine your entire presentation while you're giving your presentation.
2) Bad pricing for Europe. They're already behind in Europe this gen due to the higher cost of the PS5 in virtually all 50+ countries in Europe. The money people at Sony are severely underestimating the value of European market share.
3) Bad uninspired design. It's still a PS5 so expecting a large difference in aesthetics is dumb. However, given that the PS5 is the first and only PlayStation console with user customizability (i.e., removability) of the external shell, they completely missed the opportunity to do something cool with the look of the Pro. Even a rotating PS logo on the front of the machine would be something to talk about rather than the gills/black vents on the console.
4) Bad value proposition. $700 for no disc drive, no stand, no new startup beep, not even a few months of PS+ or a free Concord-inspired joke book etc. It's just a really bad offer. The disc drive decision makes great business sense for new customers but completely devalues the Pro for current PS5 users. I understand that they make virtually no money on used game sales, so selling the disc drive seems like the better option. However, the value of out-of-the-box backwards compatibility is extremely high for the majority of PS5 users. The Pro is being advertised as a machine that "Makes your older shit look better." How are you supposed to know your older shit looks better if you can't even use your older shit?
5) Bad advertising slogan. "Witness Play Unleashed" tells you nothing about the new console or its features. Even worse, it's unnecessarily wordy, which guarantees a bunch of mistranslations in a bunch of non-English speaking markets.
It's pretty obvious that the majority of their managerial talent is about as skilled as a rapidly expiring loaf of bread. The Pro is (obviously) not intended as a mass market device. However, when the actual audience for the device is left wondering what the point of the device is, you're in for some rough waters. I didn't expect them to repeat the same PSVR 2 mistakes so soon but here we are.