PS4 Pro Speculation (PS4K NEO Kaio-Ken-Kutaragi-Kaz Neo-san)

[trainplane]

I don't think we'll see new consoles again from MS/Sony until 2020 at the earliest, and it will be driven by RAM as much as TFLOPs. That should be the next "inflection point". By then, we should hopefully be able to fit 24-32 GB HBM2 at 1+ TB/s and be able to achieve 12+ TFLOPs at console TDPs and prices. That'll make for nice 4K/60fps output with better IQ than today's machines.

Releasing consoles one or even two years after the last is insane and consumers will revolt.

 

[wco81]

March is a slow spending season for consumers everywhere except maybe Japan.

As for going to the smart phone model, smart phone sales are slowing down so people aren't upgrading as frequently and/or the market is pretty saturated in the industrialized world.

Also, after PS3 and X1 launch prices, I don't know how any console manufacturer could be targeting a launch price higher than $400.

 

[Jay]

Releasing consoles one or even two years after the last is insane and consumers will revolt.

I think there would be initial push back, but people would adapt.
I don't think it would happen more so, because it's not in the manufactures interest.

phones are different because you have many different manufactures, and a lot more you can do to phones.
different sizes, screen, power, cost, camera, and more.
consoles, would only really be power, and you wouldn't be able to see a big enough difference from a yearly update.
for console manufactures, there better of trying to reduce cost and trying to make more on each console than investing on releasing newer ones.

 

[one]

Every year? Assume you are joking.

It's half joke, half thought experiment.
When they were taking loss for a console they couldn't do that but now they can. They have a stable OS and SDK. It doesn't require huge hardware R&D cost anymore, it's no different from Mac. Games engines evolved too, ReCore for Xbox One was developed with Unity, so they can put it on Android if they want. They can't sit on a single hardware for years, it's the only way to upgrade the hardware as quick as possible to fend off likes of Apple / Google / random Chinese consoles.

 

[Jay]

and why do people always use phones as an example?

that is as much apple to orange comparison you could make.

there's other electrical devices, why not TV's? They get updated yearly, have multiple price points, skus, etc.
yet not much of a revolt apart from 3d, and that was a specific case much like motion based games.

people buy and replace tv's when they feel the need. Don't remember much revolting over it.

as for neo, if its priced well it will do well if not, it will struggle a bit more, but could still be successful from sonys point of view. Games will just play games as long as good games are coming out, don't see all of them giving up gaming.

to be clear I don't believe we're moving to yearly cycles, or even every 2years.

 

[MrFox]

I would be very surprised they launch this year. Unveiling at Gamescom or TGS and releasing in march makes more sense. Price drop on ps4 announced at the same time.

But DF has been reliable and they always make sure to have good corroborated sources before spilling the beans. My conspiracy theories are: Maybe it's a confusion with a ps4k that simply adds 4k playback, and not ps4 neo? Or it's confusion between unveiling and launching? Or it's based on the devs receiving a deadline for compatibility testing, but it was conjectured to be the launch date which it isn't?

 

[Karamazov]

why ask devs to ship neo ready games by october if the console would not launch this year ?

 

[Globalisateur]

I would be very surprised they launch this year. Unveiling at Gamescom or TGS and releasing in march makes more sense. Price drop on ps4 announced at the same time.

But DF has been reliable and they always make sure to have good corroborated sources before spilling the beans. My conspiracy theories are: Maybe it's a confusion with a ps4k that simply adds 4k playback, and not ps4 neo? Or it's confusion between unveiling and launching? Or it's based on the devs receiving a deadline for compatibility testing, but it was conjectured to be the launch date which it isn't?

Does it sound likely?

 

[BRiT]

why ask devs to ship neo ready games by october if the console would not launch this year ?

So when PS4 Neo does launch the games in the marketplace will work with it without issue.

How bad would it suck if none of the games out worked with it and only new games released AFTER the console is released worked?

 

[mpg1]

The wording from Andrew House lets me to believe that Sony is going announce this just before it is available. I'd say it's going to be announced in October and available in November.

 

[Karamazov]

So when PS4 Neo does launch the games in the marketplace will work with it without issue.

How bad would it suck if none of the games out worked with it and only new games released AFTER the console is released worked?

All PS4 games are going to work on it, games launched from october are asked to have a neo mode to look, and/or run better.

 

[temesgen]

Every year? Assume you are joking.

Every year would be a mistake as would that price....

 

[MrFox]

Does it sound likely?

42.1% chance.

 

[MrFox]

The wording from Andrew House lets me to believe that Sony is going announce this just before it is available. I'd say it's going to be announced in October and available in November.

Well November is not really impossible I guess. He said he was surprised ms announced it "more than a year ahead", so it's fair to guess they announced it significantly less than a year ahead. Things will leak very fast once within 2 months from launch, fcc filings, stores getting stock alocations, underpaid teenagers working in retail leaking everything from the databases, they also need time to allow stores to plan preorders.

If they announce at TGS, they have to start preorder right there for a november launch.

 

[BRiT]

All PS4 games are going to work on it, games launched from october are asked to have a neo mode to look, and/or run better.

You asked why Sony would ask devs to do this starting from October on and I answered that question.

 

[temesgen]

Starting to see rumors of NEO launching this year, that sort of makes sense to me if it is truly is based off the new AMD RX 480 which launches at the end of this month and that would also fit nicely with directive for games coming out this Fall to be compatible and the release of PSVR which I still think is the main catalyst for this thing - 60 fps VR may technically be VR but 90 fps is likely to be a much better experience. The main caveat being these sources can often be circular, everyone citing the same source for their story... In any case this fall will be rather interesting with VR and possibly a new console entering the race for our holiday dollars.

 

[mpg1]

Starting to see rumors of NEO launching this year, that sort of makes sense to me if it is truly is based off the new AMD RX 480 which launches at the end of this month and that would also fit nicely with directive for games coming out this Fall to be compatible and the release of PSVR which I still think is the main catalyst for this thing - 60 fps VR may technically be VR but 90 fps is likely to be a much better experience. The main caveat being these sources can often be circular, everyone citing the same source for their story... In any case this fall will be rather interesting with VR and possibly a new console entering the race for our holiday dollars.

I'd love to see Digital Foundry (or anybody) try to emulate a PS4 neo with a i3 CPU and under-clocked RX 480 and do some benchmarking. Wouldn't be totally accurate but still.

 

[ultragpu]

I do hope it gets released this year so I can play everything 1080p with enhanced graphics, then in 2 or 3 years time let PS5 with its 12tf of juice serve me a proper next gen graphics 4k experience without current gen shackles.

 

[mpg1]

What first games will be captured with neo mode? It's October onward right. So that means Titanfall 2, COD, BF1 should be "optimized" for neo.

Curious to see what developers will do with it.

Honestly not sure what I'd rather have. A PS4 library in which most third party titles run 1080p native and will continue to hit 1080p native on PS4 neo on new AAA titles over the next few years. Or Xbox One third party library that can't hit 1080p on most games and Xbox Scorpio that will target 4K native but will most likely fall short.

PS4 neo sounds like the ultimate 1080p machine. PS5 will probably be an actual true 4K gaming rig.

 

[RDGoodla]

What first games will be captured with neo mode? It's October onward right. So that means Titanfall 2, COD, BF1 should be "optimized" for neo.

Curious to see what developers will do with it.

Honestly not sure what I'd rather have. A PS4 library in which most third party titles run 1080p native and will continue to hit 1080p native on PS4 neo on new AAA titles over the next few years. Or Xbox One third party library that can't hit 1080p on most games and Xbox Scorpio that will target 4K native but will most likely fall short.

PS4 neo sounds like the ultimate 1080p machine. PS5 will probably be an actual true 4K gaming rig.

I really don't think next-gen AAA games will have 4K resolution. Consoles are not powerful than high-end PCs, therefore console AAA games should focus on 1080p @ 60fps（or even 30fps）with high/max setting, since 1080p games always have 3 times or more resource than native-4K games to render each frame.

High-end PCs may have 1440p@60fps while SLI GPUs can have 4K@60fps.