4K, HDR Gaming Still in Early Days – Albert Penello

Though Project Scorpio is a ways off, we’re already seeing the effects of HDR and 4K gaming on the world today. The PS4 Pro is pushing for upscaled 4K and HDR while the Xbox One S features a 4K Blu-ray drive. Despite this, Albert Penello – who’s in charge of product management and planning at Microsoft Corporation – revealed how it’s still early days for these mediums.

Speaking on the Major Nelson podcast, Penello was surprised that the PS4 Pro and PS4 Slim didn’t have a 4K Blu-ray drive and said that it’s a good, albeit early, time for these mediums. “This is the thing I like to remind people when everybody asks: ‘We’re just in the beginning of this.’ So games, and game developers, and TV manufacturers, we all have to get used to it. Figure this out; what works, what do customers want.”

He further noted that it was difficult to show off the benefits of 4K and HDR without the support TV set. “Showing people what 4K and HDR looks like is really hard when you’re not watching the thing in 4K or in HDR. How do we market that and be honest. You have to fudge things a little bit to show the differences, but you want to do it in a way that’s honest. So even telling customers what it looks like, we have to go through that journey.”

You can expect some “big” announcements regarding entertainment apps that support 4K and HDR but that’ll likely come in 2017. Stay tuned in the meantime and let us know what you think in the comments.