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Sony has admitted that that PlayStation Neo is real, but has also confirmed that there will not be any details announced at E3 next week.
It is intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4,” Sony Interactive president Andrew House told The Financial Times. We will be selling both [versions] through the life cycle.”
The machine will offer 4K output and increased graphical power, although the specifications have not yet been detailed. It will be compatible with current PS4 games, and House expects all or a very large majority” or future releases to support the Neo as well as the vanilla console. Developers should also anticipate only a small but manageable” amount of extra effort to get games working across both units.
It will cost more than the current machine, however, and Sony says it does not expect to sell it at a loss at launch. Both will support the PlayStation VR, of which we can now expect to see plenty at E3.
None of this is a surprise, of course, although the lack of E3 debut certainly is.
We want to ensure we have a full range of the best experiences on the new system that we can showcase in their entirety,” House said of the no-show.
And of the decision to move to an iterative console hardware cycle, House argued: The consumer is attuned to a different cadence of innovation in technology thanks in great part for the upgrades cadence on mobile phones or PCs.”
All of this leaves Sony at risk of leaving fans deflated at E3. For so long has anticipation for Neo been burning that its absence will almost certainly lead to disappointment and – knowing video games fans – probably anger.
What too of Xbox Scorpio, which earlier reports suggest had been fast-tracked for an E3 announcement because of Sony’s plan to unveil the Neo? Coupled with the confirmed NX stay away, are we now facing up to the prospect of a new console-less E3 2016?
