At this point, it seems all but confirmed that an upgraded version of either the PS4 (dubbed “Neo” in recent reports) or Xbox One will be coming later this year. The lifespan of consoles notwithstanding, what will this mean for the general consumer?
GamingBolt spoke to Chris Tilton of Exploding Tuba Studios, which is currently working on Divide for the PlayStation 4, about the rumours of upgradeable consoles and whether the concept of console “generations” would become irrelevant in the future.
Tilton said that, “I have all the consoles and a PC, but I will often play on console for convenience, so the idea that I can get a newer PS4/XBox to have a few more visual bells and whistles is appealing to me. However, not everyone has or wants to spend extra cash on a whole new system for minimal upgrades. It’s not like mobile phones, which have essential features that we use every day, or other upgradeable TV devices like Apple TV and Amazon’s Fire Stick, which are significantly cheaper.
“There really isn’t an apt comparison for what MS and Sony are considering doing. It will be interesting to see how people respond to it when (if) these upgraded consoles are released. I have to imagine that your average console gamer does not care if a newer version has slightly higher resolution textures.”
Will it satisfy the hardcore though? Or maybe Sony and Microsoft will build up support for the new upgrades prior to and post launch? Let us know what you think in the comments below.