PS4 Neo Officially Confirmed

Sony executives have finally and officially confirmed the existence of the PS4 Neo, the mid-generation update first rumoured back in March 2016.

Sony Interactive president Andrew House discussed the PS4 Neo in an interview with The Financial Times, in which he spoke both about Sony’s plans for the new PS4 model and about their upcoming E3 conference.

Andrew House announced the first set of officially sourced information about the new console, codenamed Neo. The new console edition will include ‘ultra-high definition’ 4K resolutions and improved processing power. Indeed, The Financial Times noted that the PS4 Neo is the first such mid-generation update that will boost the processing heft above its predecessor, no doubt aimed at increasing Sony’s lead over its competitors.

The PS4 Neo, to be marketed as a high-end PS4, will target an audience of hardcore gamers with 4K televisions. It will be priced at a higher rate than the regular PS4, but is intended to complement and be sold alongside the original, rather than replace it. House said that all future PS4 games will be compatible with the standard console, and that ‘all or a very large majority’ will support the upgraded version.

House confirmed that the upcoming Playstation VR headset will be compatible with both standard and upgraded PS4 consoles, which disproves previous suggestions that the Neo would be the VR-capable version. House said that developers should generally find creating VR games on both editions ‘seamless’, although a ‘small but manageable’ amount of extra development would be required for VR games on the Neo.

However, despite the imminence of E3 House confirmed that the new PS4 console will not be demonstrated at the event. “We want to ensure we have a full range of the best experiences on the new system that we can showcase in their entirety,” he said. This suggests that the new console still has some significant work needed to be done on it yet.