With the biggest videogame show in the world – the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) – taking place next week in Los Angeles, California, it would make sense that developers and manufacturers save their biggest announcements to coincide with the event. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has been rumoured for months to be working on a more powerful PlayStation 4 (PS4) console, which has now been confirmed, but it won’t be making an appearance at E3.
Talking to The Financial Times, SIE president and CEO Andrew House stated that the “high-end” version of the PS4 is fact, but it wouldn’t be replacing the current PS4. The new console – known as Neo – will be more expensive than the current model. House did indicate that SIE is planning on the Neo to “sit alongside and complement” the standard version, although why you’d want two PS4’s sat next to each other is a mystery.
The new model looks to focus on the hardcore gamer market with support for 4K output to TV’s. Specifications for the new PS4 haven’t been released but with the extra power for 4K that will likely benefit the PlayStation VR head-mounted display (HMD). Whether it’ll combine the break-out box the headset plugs into is unclear, but releasing a new console would make it a possibility.
House address concerns of compatibility saying: “All games will support the standard PS4 and we anticipate all or a very large majority of games will also support the high-end PS4,” and also stated: “We will be selling both [versions] through the life cycle.”
The console won’t be at E3 as SIE wants to make sure there’s a full range of titles available to showcase the improvements.
The company recently revealed PlayStation VR pre-orders sold “very fast” but refrained from saying the actual number of unit sold. With the headset due out in October this year its the last major HMD to launch.
For all the latest VR news from E3 keep reading VRFocus.
