Sony Confirms More Powerful 4K-Capable PS4 Neo, But It Won’t Debut At E3

It’s been widely reported that Sony will release a more powerful variant of the PlayStation 4 console, dubbed PS4 Neo, later this year. Sony has done nothing to combat the rumors of the console as more evidence of its existence have proliferated throughout the blogosphere. Today, Sony chief executive Andrew House confirmed the development of the PS4 Neo in an interview with the Financial Times.

House corroborated details that we’ve all been hearing for months, specifically that the console will have a beefier processor and graphics controller along with support for 4K gaming resolutions.

As for its positioning within the PS4 family, House confirmed what we suspected all along. “It is intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4,” said House. “We will be selling both [versions] through the life cycle.”

In essence, Sony is looking to maintain is already comfortable lead at the [new] low-end of the console market over the Xbox One and launch an all-out assault at a new, higher price point. The exec is also looked to alleviate fears that the PS4 Neo would lead to a fracturing of game support and availability from developers.

“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,” he continued. According to House, developers will only need to make “small but manageable” tweaks to their games to enable support for both the standard PS4 and the PS4 Neo.

While all of this is definitely great news for console gamers that are looking to experience richer graphics with a 4K-capable console, we won’t be seeing the PS4 Neo at this year’s E3. Instead, House explains that Sony and its partners are working to ensure that there are plenty of launch titles available to showcase the capabilities of the console. If previous reports are accurate, the PS4 Neo will instead be unveiled this fall around the same time that the PlayStation VR becomes commercially available (by the way, the PlayStation VR will support both the standard PS4 and the PS4 Neo).

Microsoft, on the other hand, is expected to at least reveal its more powerful Xbox One ‘Scorpio’ hardware at E3. However, the console won’t be available until late 2017 according to various insiders.