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[The Praiseworthy]

Sony Interactive Entertainment President Andrew House has today revealed more info about the PlayStation Neo during Sony’s Investor Day in Tokyo.

He mentioned that this is the first time that Sony will ever offer a hardware upgrade in the middle of a PlayStation’s life cycle. Although, he went on to say that this doesn’t mean that they’re going to do regular upgrades like we’ve come to know in the PC and Mobile industry. Nor does it mean that we’ll see a generation hardware change.

He went on to explain that the mobile business is very different with users upgrading their hardware every one or two years, which he doesn’t think will ever be the case in the console business, where we know the cycle as being at least five or six years. He does believe that there is potential and that’s why the latest and greatest technology can be introduced in the middle of a life cycle. The key factor for Sony will still be the important of the customer, which Sony intends to ensure stays a “one console world” with the same software for both the PS4 and PS4 Neo.

Source

Sony current strategy is working very well for them, so.. "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!"

Also I think it's pretty clear now that Sony's plans and philosophy behind the Neo are different from Microsoft with Scorpio.



Edit: why the title changed?

 

[Abdiel]

Source

Sony current strategy is working very well for them, so.. "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!"

Also I think it's pretty clear now that Sony's plans and philosophy behind the Neo are different from Microsoft with Scorpio.



Please lock if it's old.

Very few people assumed they were shifting to a rapid change model, something like yearly changes.

What I think remains to be seen is how truly iterative they wish to be, building off the same shared architecture going forward after this model, etc.

 

[SPDIF]

Also I think it's pretty clear now that Sony's plans and philosophy behind the Neo are different from Microsoft with Scorpio.

I'd say they sound pretty similar:

Consumer expectation is that, if you wanted to, you could go buy a new cell phone every year. I don’t want to get into that mode with a console. I see the next inflection point as 4K, and I want to make sure we have a console there to support that, and Scorpio will do that. We’re not on a hardware tick-tock that says I need to put out a console every two years or every one year to get people to upgrade. That’s not the console model.

 

[wesleyshark]

I'd say that Sony and Microsoft are congruently offering mid-gen advancements. Their approaches are very similar. The only difference is that one is coming a year earlier than the other.

 

[Heckler456]

Very few people assumed they were shifting to a rapid change model, something like yearly changes.

What I think remains to be seen is how truly iterative they wish to be, building off the same shared architecture going forward after this model, etc.

I'm pretty convinced at this point that they're just trying to improve retention rate for their brand, and at the same time widen their audience by having a very cheap and premium model of their console for sale. There will still be a generational shift at some point (6-8 years), and while I'm pretty convinced that they'll be sticking to x86, they will still change it up in terms of hardware architecture.

Point being, I don't think they're trying to shake it up as much as people are expecting them to.

 

[Shancake]

I'm pretty convinced at this point that they're just trying to improve retention rate for their brand, and at the same time widen their audience by having a very cheap and premium model of their console for sale. There will still be a generational shift at some point (6-8 years), and while I'm pretty convinced that they'll be sticking to x86, they will still change it up in terms of hardware architecture.

Point being, I don't think they're trying to shake it up as much as people are expecting them to.

Completely agree with this.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

I'll believe it when they don't introduce the PS5 in 2018.

 

[darkinstinct]

Source

Sony current strategy is working very well for them, so.. "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!"

Also I think it's pretty clear now that Sony's plans and philosophy behind the Neo are different from Microsoft with Scorpio.



Please lock if it's old.

LOL, their announced plans are exactly the same.

 

[cb1115]

kinda weird how they keep openly talking about the Neo without actually formally announcing it

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

I think it is like the mobile world but the key difference is it won't be yearly. It'll be every 2-3 years and then maybe after a few iterations they'll stop support for one of the earlier ones.

 

[dragonfart28]

The strategy around these mid consoles is so confusing.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

I think it is like the mobile world but the key difference is it won't be yearly. It'll be every 2-3 years and then maybe after a few iterations they'll stop support for one of the earlier ones.

House is making it sound like there will be only one upgrade per generation, with clearly defined generations intact.

PS4> PS4 Neo
PS5> PS5 Neo
PS6> PS6 Neo

The Neo consoles come out half way through the generation. It doesnt like they are gradually making stronger Neos every 3 years and ditching the traditional console generation.

I might be totally wrong though, that's just how im understanding all this.

 

[Extra Sauce]

I'll believe it when they don't introduce the PS5 in 2018.

That would be a new platform, not an upgrade.

 

[icespide]

House is making it sound like there will be only one upgrade per generation, with clearly defined generations intact.

PS4> PS4 Neo
PS5> PS5 Neo
PS6> PS6 Neo

The Neo consoles come out half way through the generation. It doesnt like they are gradually making stronger Neos every 3 years and ditching the traditional console generation.

I might be totally wrong though, that's just how im understanding all this.

 

[farisr]

House is making it sound like there will be only one upgrade per generation, with clearly defined generations intact.

PS4> PS4 Neo
PS5> PS5 Neo
PS6> PS6 Neo

The Neo consoles come out half way through the generation. It doesnt like they are gradually making stronger Neos every 3 years and ditching the traditional console generation.

I might be totally wrong though, that's just how im understanding all this.

Yup, this is exactly what it sounds like to me as well. A Neo option in the middle of the gen for those people who feel the regular console is underpowered or are itching for a bit of an upgrade.

I'll believe it when they don't introduce the PS5 in 2018.

They probably won't, but Introducing a traditional PS5 would actually prove that they're not doing the regular upgrades model. So I don't really get this post.

 

[Oersted]

I think it is like the mobile world but the key difference is it won't be yearly. It'll be every 2-3 years and then maybe after a few iterations they'll stop support for one of the earlier ones.

Yearly is slowly getting abandoned.

 

[LukasTaves]

Seems to me more like they are trying to reassure Ps4 support. Once Ps4k is on the shelves, and people realize it didn't kill Ps4 after a few years, they can start explaining why a generational shift no longer works and how it's going to be from now on.

Or, they really mean it, and Ps4k will too die when Ps5 arrives, but honestly I don't see the point of it them.

 

[Dangansona]

House is making it sound like there will be only one upgrade per generation, with clearly defined generations intact.

PS4> PS4 Neo
PS5> PS5 Neo
PS6> PS6 Neo

The Neo consoles come out half way through the generation. It doesnt like they are gradually making stronger Neos every 3 years and ditching the traditional console generation.

I might be totally wrong though, that's just how im understanding all this.

No this is absolutely the impression I've had since day one, and that I've been seemingly shouting into the wind(is that the expression?) about on here because it's mostly been "doom and gloom iPhone consoles are here and generations are over."

Edit: This is only in regards to the NEO.

 

[Mindlog]

House is making it sound like there will be only one upgrade per generation, with clearly defined generations intact.

PS4> PS4 Neo
PS5> PS5 Neo
PS6> PS6 Neo

The Neo consoles come out half way through the generation. It doesnt like they are gradually making stronger Neos every 3 years and ditching the traditional console generation.

I might be totally wrong though, that's just how im understanding all this.

It will be interesting to see how that jives with traditional hardware expectations.
Going from 2,3,4 was easy. There was no half step in the way. Now PS5 has to compare favorably to PS4.5 as well.

 

[wachie]

House is making it sound like there will be only one upgrade per generation, with clearly defined generations intact.

PS4> PS4 Neo
PS5> PS5 Neo
PS6> PS6 Neo

The Neo consoles come out half way through the generation. It doesnt like they are gradually making stronger Neos every 3 years and ditching the traditional console generation.

I might be totally wrong though, that's just how im understanding all this.

This is all contingent on how soon a node shrink is available in the console lifecycle. If it isn't then things get murkier.

 

[etta]

So both will just introduce mid-cycle upgrades if there is a big new tech advancement that happens to occur after the current console has already come out. Which is what 4K and VR sort of is now.

 

[Joco]

So... does this mean backwards compatibility is up in the air for future PlayStation consoles? That'd be a pretty big deal in the future with everything going digital.

 

[Maintenance]

Yeah, right.

 

[farisr]

No this is absolutely the impression I've had since day one, and that I've been seemingly shouting into the wind(is that the expression?) about on here because it's mostly been "doom and gloom iPhone consoles are here and generations are over."

MS's announcement feels more like a regular upgrades model to me. Especially due to the fact that despite what they said about not having any Scorpio exclusive titles, Scorpio will be getting exclusive games in the form of VR. Heck, they even said it themselves when making the announcement, they're "beyond generations"

 

[MuchoMalo]

 

[Aceofspades]

I have known this since day 1, we had people running crazy theories about rapid console iterations every year or so.

It doesn't work like that..games take years to make.

 

[Azure Dream]

I get the impression that the Neo made more sense for them in regards to production, that it will ultimately be cheaper for them to produce a more powerful console than continuing with the PS4 design. Sure, the PS4 will exist concurrently, but I wouldn't be surprised to see production scale lower and lower on it, then coast out on remaining stock, by which point Sony will have pricedropped the Neo once or twice and will be selling it pretty much exclusively.

Beats the nightmare Nintendo was stuck with for the Wii U, where they were (still are?) paying a lot of money to stick with weaker parts because the design won't accommodate replacements.

kinda weird how they keep openly talking about the Neo without actually formally announcing it

Once they blast it through official channels, sales are likely to slow down on the regular console. The informed know by now about the Neo, the ones that follow Sony close enough to ask the questions, but there's still a lot of uninformed.

 

[icespide]

So... does this mean backwards compatibility is up in the air for future PlayStation consoles? That'd be a pretty big deal in the future with everything going digital.

why do people conflate backwards compatibility with going digital? why should backwards compatibility be any different with digital vs. physical?

 

[Rembrandt]

LOL, their announced plans are exactly the same.

Lmaooo. It really is.

why do people conflate backwards compatibility with going digital? why should backwards compatibility be any different with digital vs. physical?

I honestly don't know. But I think it might because digital will be the future and it might be easier to update? It shouldn't be a problem because both install to hard drive, right?

I mainly buy digital but it's still a concern.


I'm still ambivalent on these heavy mid console refreshes but depending on when the neo launches, I'll probably grab that instead of the slim. I just want to play Detroit and Until Dawn.

 

[thuway]

This is all fine and dandy but at the end of the day the average consumer won't care if Scorpio could be considered a next generation machine or if Neo intentionally hindered it's upgrade to maintain compatibility with PS4.

Consumers don't care about ideological theory on what defines a platform. They want what's best for them, and in this regard, Scorpio is clear and away the power Victor. So I hope Neo brings value to the table and prices itself sensibly because there will be plenty of negative press to go around for premium pricing for the sake of the word premium.

I'm sorry Sony, I don't buy into the 'consciously conservative console upgrade so we can be make a superfluous point about what defines the generation'. I garuntee consumers won't either.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

I'll believe it when they don't introduce the PS5 in 2018.

lol... With everything going on now and how many of the big developers still didn't release their first AAA title yet for this gen ( or even announce one ) don't expect PS5 till 2020 2021.

LOL, their announced plans are exactly the same.

Sony is treading the neo as an improvement PS4..

Scorpio is a MUCH more improvement over One and MS already went beyond generations with it.

 

[Joco]

why do people conflate backwards compatibility with going digital? why should backwards compatibility be any different with digital vs. physical?

Because people want their digital libraries to carry forward. If Sony eventually pulls the plug on the servers from a game own but don't have downloaded, you can't play it again. At least with physical games you can still use them and play them on older consoles. With online services being shut off all the time, backwards comparability for digital libraries is more important.

 

[icespide]

Because people want their digital libraries to carry forward. If Sony eventually pulls the plug on the servers from a game own but don't have downloaded, you can't play it again. At least with physical games you can still use them and play them on older consoles. With online services being shut off all the time, backwards comparability for digital libraries is more important.

cutting off the servers would be an issue on any of the consoles that those games are played on, that's a concern with going digital in general, not really backwards compatibility

also, with how broken games are on day 1 and how huge multi-gig patches are the norm nowadays, un-patched physical games are going to be pretty useless soon anyway

 

[Rembrandt]

This is all fine and dandy but at the end of the day the average consumer won't care if Scorpio could be considered a next generation machine or if Neo intentionally hindered it's upgrade to maintain compatibility with PS4.

Consumers don't care about ideological theory on what defines a platform. They want what's best for them, and in this regard, Scorpio is clear and away the power Victor. So I hope Neo brings value to the table and prices itself sensibly because there will be plenty of negative press to go around.

I may be wrong but the power difference isn't as siginficent, is it? Compared to the XB1 and PS4. A lower price will do it well. I'm curious on the feature aspect because MS is gonna push the W10 and XB1 being unified a lot and i can see play anywhere helping in aspects outside of AAA games.

 

[RoboPlato]

I feel like with the amount they've been commenting on it lately, Sony should just have a formal reveal of this thing so they can clearly lay out their strategy and goals for the machine instead of just vagueries in interviews because they're bound by NDA.

 

[Shin-Ra]

LOL, their announced plans are exactly the same.

What are Microsoft's HMD gaming plans for HoloLens and VR? I'm not seeing a clear hardware or software focus and if Microsoft Studios has switched their gaming HMD focus to VR, how far along are they?

 

[Fat4all]

So both will just introduce mid-cycle upgrades if there is a big new tech advancement that happens to occur after the current console has already come out. Which is what 4K and VR sort of is now.

Seems like it. We'll get mid upgrades if it's worth upgrading.

 

[jdmonmou]

Relieved to hear that they aren't trying to copy the cell phone release model. But I'm still expecting the Neo to flop. Not enough people with 4K TVs and people will choose the cheaper PS4 model if both are sold alongside each other.

 

[ArtHands]

No this is absolutely the impression I've had since day one, and that I've been seemingly shouting into the wind(is that the expression?) about on here because it's mostly been "doom and gloom iPhone consoles are here and generations are over."

That do count towards a shift to regular upgrade strategy. Its not a yearly upgrade yet, but this is a step towards shortening the upgrade time gap.

 

[Inuhanyou]

I already said this, and so did Andrew House right after E3. They are not going for super quick iterations with hardware with generations being destroyed. I said this. just because MS is thinking like that doens't mean Sony has to.

The current status quo of generations helps Sony more than hurts, and being the market leader, they can dicatate developers hardware priority.

Their plan is an iterative unit in the middle of the cycle, and then a complete refresh for the next gen a few years later, and then another iterative unit a few years after that with all of them being fully BC with the previous software and ecosystems but their own exclusive titles ect.

 

[Rembrandt]

What are Microsoft's HMD gaming plans for HoloLens and VR? I'm not seeing a clear hardware or software focus and if Microsoft Studios has switched their gaming HMD focus to VR, how far along are they?

I don't see Hololens being a thing until the actual successor or the one after that. They have a deal with Vive and Oculus so one of those will be their replacement for now and maybe for the future.

 

[Dinjooh]

Relieved to hear that they aren't trying to copy the cell phone release model. But I'm still expecting the Neo to flop. Not enough people with 4K TVs and people will choose the cheaper PS4 model if both are sold alongside each other.

I'm betting this will be positioned as a 4K media console, and a really high quality 1080p gaming console.

Also I think you're way off on your expectation. It won't sell as well as the regular PS4, but it will have it's place in the marketplace.

 

[Tagyhag]

That's what I would prefer but I'll wait and see what they do regarding forwards and backwards compability with PS5 and on.

 

[thuway]

I may be wrong but the power difference isn't as siginficent, is it? Compared to the XB1 and PS4. A lower price will do it well. I'm curious on the feature aspect because MS is gonna push the W10 and XB1 being unified a lot and i can see play anywhere helping in aspects outside of AAA games.

The power difference exists, how much of it will manifest on your television- well we'll find that out in two years, but the point I'm really trying to make is:

IF Sony is trying to enter the market with PREMIUM pricing and justifying the lower powered components with rhetoric/spin about "mantaining the integrity of the console generation"- than I think they are seriously underestimating their consumer base. Consumers will pay for high end products, but they will bite the hand that feeds if you begin insulting their intelligence.

I hope the Neo is priced comfortably at $399. What made PS4 so successful was a confluence of power, exclusives, branding, and most importantly VALUE. My statement has more to do with having an uneasy feeling that Sony might try to shoehorn a 4.2 TF/Jaguar machine at a $499 price tag - which atleast to me- appears to be poor value.

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

I still cant wait to see what they actually CALL the fucking thing. Neo PS4k PS4UNOW. As a Sony fan it will be interesting not having the technologically superior console when Scorpio is released.

 

[icespide]

The power difference exists, how much of it will manifest on your television- well we'll find that out in two years, but the point I'm really trying to make is:

IF Sony is trying to enter the market with PREMIUM pricing and justifying the lower powered components with rhetoric/spin about "mantaining the integrity of the console generation"- than I think they are seriously underestimating their consumer base.

I hope the Neo is priced comfortably at $399. What made PS4 so successful was a confluence of power, exclusives, branding, and most importantly VALUE. My statement has more to do with having an uneasy feeling that Sony might try to shoehorn a 4.2 TF/Jaguar machine at a $499 price tag - which atleast to me- appears to be poor value.

what makes you think it's gonna be $499?

 

[orochi91]

The power difference exists, how much of it will manifest on your television- well we'll find that out in two years, but the point I'm really trying to make is:

IF Sony is trying to enter the market with PREMIUM pricing and justifying the lower powered components with rhetoric/spin about "mantaining the integrity of the console generation"- than I think they are seriously underestimating their consumer base.

I hope the Neo is priced comfortably at $399. What made PS4 so successful was a confluence of power, exclusives, branding, and most importantly VALUE. My statement has more to do with having an uneasy feeling that Sony might try to shoehorn a 4.2 TF/Jaguar machine at a $499 price tag - which atleast to me- appears to be poor value.

If they cram some PS3 components into the NEO, that would justify a $499 price-tag.

Seriously, having BC with last gen stuff would be an insane value proposition, when coupled with the upgraded PS4 hardware.

That's the only palatable scenario in which a 4.2 TF/Jaguar @ $499 is viable.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

I still cant wait to see what they actually CALL the fucking thing. Neo PS4k PS4UNOW. As a Sony fan it will be interesting not having the technologically superior console when Scorpio is released.

I honestly think Microsoft had a perfect name for the Scorpio, but they wasted it on the Xbox One slim. Xbox One S would have been a great name for Scorpio.
Xbox One Slim would have been a better and less confusing name for the S.

 

[JordanN]

I still cant wait to see what they actually CALL the fucking thing. Neo PS4k PS4UNOW. As a Sony fan it will be interesting not having the technologically superior console when Scorpio is released.

Just like the PS2 days (and look at how that turned out).

 

[Menitta]

Beat me too it.