It was widely believed, after tons of rumours, that Sony would be unveiling an upgraded model of their current PlayStation 4 console during their E3 press conference this year. Well, after so much hearsay, Sony Computer Entertainment America boss, Andrew House, speaking to The Financial Times, confirmed that the so-called ‘PlayStation 4 NEO’ is very real, and is currently in development within the inner confines of PlayStation’s offices! This is the first time that Sony has acknowledged the existence of the upgraded console.
If you were hoping to get a glimpse of the upgraded PlayStation 4 model at E3 however… You will be disappointed. House went on to stress that the mysterious upgraded PlayStation 4 model won’t be shown at E3 in any capacity this year, and that much of its exact specs, pricing and other such matters are still being worked out. House did clarify however that the console will not be sold at a loss, and will predictably cost more than the current $349.99 USD base PlayStation 4 model that has been readily available to consumers since late 2013.
Finally, House stressed to those concerned that the base PlayStation 4 model is being phased out that this is absolutely not the case, and that both the base PlayStation 4 and ‘PlayStation 4 NEO’, if that’s what it ends up being called, will be sold alongside each other throughout the entire PlayStation 4 life cycle. As rumours indicated, all PlayStation 4 games must work on both models of the console as well, and there will be no games that are exclusive to the upgraded model of the PlayStation 4, since House wants the new rendition of the console to complement the original one, not replace it. House also confirmed that PlayStation VR will work with both models of the console, though didn’t comment on speculation that the PlayStation maker’s virtual reality headset would function a lot better on the upgraded PlayStation 4 model.
With Sony now confirming that we won’t see the upgraded PlayStation 4 at this year’s E3, it remains unknown whether the reports of 4K resolution capability and improved processing power are true (the latter makes sense, though the former is very unlikely for gaming, since even PC gaming hasn’t yet fully cracked how to properly render 4K resolution without upscaling and processor strain), nor whether the console may support any other exclusive features that aren’t yet known. It’s also currently unknown whether similar reports of an upgraded Xbox One model, allegedly dubbed ‘Scorpio’, are true, or whether Microsoft could show any such improved console at their own E3 conference this year. Rumours indicate that Microsoft will at least announce a ‘Slim’ version of the base model of Xbox One that’s already available during their E3 conference this year, but this is also currently unknown.
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