Now that Sony has officially announced the PlayStation 4 Pro, which will be the first mid-generation console upgrade, Sony Interactive Entertainment America President Shawn Layden was asked by The Verge if upgrades are the future of consoles, or if the next thing will be a PS5. According to Layden, they were focused on iterating within this console cycle with PS4 Pro, but there will be more PlayStations in the future:
Right now we were concentrating on how do we iterate within this PS4 life cycle. The technology and improvements behind PS4 [Pro] are our way of articulating where we think the market wants to go. People will want to have greater fidelity of images and graphics. Where we go from there, we’re going to have to wait and see. It’s our first time innovating within the life cycle, so I’m not exactly sure what impact that will have on our plan going forward. But there will be more PlayStations.
It doesn’t look like Sony is planning on releasing another PS4 console in the near future though. As Sony Interactive Entertainment President Andrew House told The Guardian, “We think that for a really substantial period of time this is the PlayStation 4 lineup [PS4, PS4 Slim, PS4 Pro]. We’re very comfortable with that.”
As for why they’re releasing the $399 USD PS4 Pro in November 2016 – just two months after the $299 USD PS4 Slim – Layden said, “Because we can. Because it’s ready to go. We’re bringing this out at $399 in about eight weeks. Why wait? This Christmas is going to be a chance for us to broaden the community for people where $299 is a price point that helps them enter into the business, and also for people who want to enjoy a richer graphical and visual experience with PS4 Pro.”
Layden also mentioned that they’ve been working on PS4 Pro for “two, two and a half years,” and they’ll have in-store demos to show off the PS4 Pro’s new 4K features.
[Source: The Verge, The Guardian via IGN]
