Rumours have been circulating for a while now that Sony are planning an upgraded PlayStation 4. Now it seems that multiple sources have confirmed a ton of details to the guys over at Giantbomb.
Often referred to by fans and the press as the PS4k, the PS4.5 or Trudy (although that last one is just me), the project is apparently internally referred to as NEO. This is something that Kotaku also backs up, so it’s looking good in that respect.
So what will the NEO feature that separates it from the dirty common PS4 models? The new report suggests a higher clock speed than the original PS4, an improved GPU, and higher bandwidth on the memory. There’s a handy image below for comparison.
So here’s where it turns out anyone who forked out for a PS4 and can’t afford to hand over a shit ton of cash for an entirely new model (ie, most normal people) can breathe easy – there won’t be any NEO exclusive titles.
The new specs do mean that there will be two types of PS4 game, but from October 2016 every title must have a “base mode” that can run on any PS4, but developers can also take advantage of the extra power from the NEO should they choose.
In short, developers cannot make NEO only games, or divide PS4 and NEO players on the PlayStation Network. How much of a challenge this is gonna be for devs remains to be seen.
So, as most of us assumed from the beginning, the NEO won’t replace the PS4 in any way. Rather, it’ll exist alongside as a high powered alternative for those with the cash and inclination to spend it.
Lastly, games that have already been released will have the option to create a “NEO mode” if the developers want to go back and release a patch.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.