It has begun! Live updates are below:
- The redesigned PS4 has been officially announced. It will be in most regions by September 15th and starts at $299.
- Andrew House is now touting 4K resolution and HDR while saying they will be moving into a new cadence for technological releases.
- PS4 Pro (Neo codename) has been officially announced!
- Mark Cerny, chief architect on the PS4, is now speaking about PS4 Pro.
- Mark is now speaking to the core tenets behind the PS4 Pro design. So far they have mentioned the improved GPU, double CPU speed, 1 TB hard drive, and compatibility with current PS4 games and hardware.
- Footage is about to be shown to demonstrate PS4 Pro improvements. The first is a demonstration of Spiderman footage of the upcoming PS4 exclusive.
- Demos of current and coming games are now being shown including Deus Ex, For Honor, Tomb Raider, and Watch Dogs 2. Visual fidelity is impressive. The 4K demos ended with a very brief look at Killing Floor 2.
- Mark is now moving to speaking about HDR.
- A demo is being shown of Days Gone in 4K with HDR being turned on to accent the affect while live.
- They are now showing existing PS4 games with HDR including Uncharted 4 and Infamous First Light.
- Mark is now speaking to how PS4 Pro can be used even with current HD TVs (1080p) to enhance existing and future games. Some existing games are being worked on already to offer PS4 Pro settings.
- The upcoming Horizon Zero Dawn is now going to be shown on PS4 Pro as a showcase game.
- Horizon Zero Dawn is one of our most anticipated games here at SG. The fidelity in the demo looks really impressive on PS4 Pro.
- Andrew is now highlighting how PS4 Pro will live alongside the standard PS4.
- The Activision CTO, Andy Hendrickson is now speaking about how COD IW is going to take advantage of PS4 Pro after a brief hiccup with the mic. Both IW and MW Remastered will have PS4 Pro support and it will also come to Black Ops 3.
- A mission level demo of COD IW is being shown running on PS4 Pro now. The lighting and shadow detail is particularly noticeable.
- Aaryn Flynn from Electronic Arts has come on stage to talk about the EA games that are going to take advantage of PS4 Pro. They mentioned Fifa 17 and Battlefield 1 initially. However, more exciting, they are now showing Mass Effect Andromeda!
- Andrew is now back for Sony, speaking about how PS4 Pro will support 4K streaming. In particular he pointed out Netflix and Youtube.
- Andrew just announced that HDR capability will be added to ALL PS4s via a firmware update next week.
- They have moved to a game sizzle reel now of various titles coming to PS4 in the future.
- PS4 Pro will release November 10th, 2016 for $399.
Our Take
Sony highlighted the vision for the PS4 well today. The announcement of HDR capability being added to all PS4s next week was a big one. The PS4 Pro is essentially what was expected given the Neo leaks, however launching this November is a surprise as is the $399 price point. While we applaud the mid-cycle refresh and the choice for consumers, we have to wonder how the average consumer will take to the realization that there is now a redesigned PS4 in September, PS VR in October, and a “better” PS4 in November. We have to imagine that will cause some confusion in the marketplace and it will be interesting to see the numbers post-holiday for Sony.
Specifically speaking about PS4 Pro, we believe Sony was smart in not focusing directly on specs but rather speaking to the tenets of design. This way, at the mainstream level they can avoid going 1:1 with Microsoft’s upcoming Scorpio which by all accounts is a far more powerful system than the PS4 Pro. That said, Sony again is smart in offering the PS4 Pro for $399 as while people were hopeful for that price point, it was widespread expectation that it would be $499.
Overall we weren’t blown away by the conference and everything shown, outside of the HDR announcement for current PS4s and some Mass Effect Andromeda footage, was mostly leaked ahead of time. Regardless, as with most new hardware we can’t wait to get our hands on the PS4 Pro to see the difference for ourselves.
