More and more, we are hearing rumblings about a new PlayStation 4 model that Sony is working on– a mid cycle refresh colloquially being referred to as the PlayStation 4.5, which will apparently add some new features to the system, and presumably give it a minor spec update too. Essentially, think of it like a console version of the New Nintendo 3DS.
At GamingBolt, we recently got to talk to Michael Pachter, the well known analyst at Wedbush Securities. One of the questions we got to ask him was about the PlayStation 4.5. Pachter does not seem to think that the PS4.5 will be anything like what we are being led to believe- he thinks it will be a rather VR specific update.
“The quick answer is that there were 27,000 people at GDC, and apparently only four heard rumblings about the PS4.5, making it hard to believe as a rumor,” Pachter said. “Given that all four of them work for Kotaku, the coincidence is far more than the norm, and I find it hard to believe.
Pachter further believes that the rumor being restricted to mostly Kotaku writers suggests that it may not be believable as rumors go.
“It is likely that one or more Kotaku employees heard the same conversation, and they may have heard musings about a 4K PS4. That makes sense, if Sony intends to advance PlayStation VR to the same level as Oculus and Vive, and given that GDC was the coming out party for PlayStation VR, it is believable that Sony personnel would be talking about how they plan to upgrade the graphics of the PS4 to make it competitive with the others. That doesn’t mean it’s a new console that will require all PS4 owners to ditch their old ones; rather, it will probably be a VR-specific model that will allow PSVR to run in 4K. I find that a reasonable explanation, but the “rumor” being heard by only four Kotaku employees and nobody else is simply not reasonable.”
Of course, in the time since the initial report broke out, Eurogamer, which is an outlet completely unaffiliated with Kotaku, has independently confirmed that the PS4.5 does indeed seem to be a thing, which probably gives some more credence to the rumor. But still, Pachter’s theory makes a reasonable amount of sense, too.
What the PS4.5 is remains to be seen, for now- Kotaku have generally had a good track record with these kinds of leaks, and mid cycle upgrades seem to be one of the benefits of the x86 hardware platform. We’ll find out what Sony have planned for us soon enough either way.