The curious coincidence of Microsoft and Sony both deciding to announce and release incrementally upgraded consoles around the same time is something that can’t quite be ignored- especially considering that upgraded consoles are, very plainly put, a thing that has never been attempted in the console market before, and certainly not to this magnitude.
So, was one a response to the other? When The Verge got a chance to sit down with Shawn Layden of Sony, they decided to ask them if the PlayStation 4 Pro was, in any way, a response to the Xbox One Scorpio, the ambitious console upgrade that Microsoft showed off at E3 earlier this year. Layden maintains that it was not.
“I think the fact that we’re going to put this on the market on November 10th, and we’ve been working on it for two, two and a half years, if other people are also innovating in the life cycle, I think that began after we started. So no is the answer to that question,” he said.
I can believe that- but the co-incidence is still really incredible here (especially given that Nintendo also chose to incrementally upgrade their handheld, the 3DS, with the New 3DS around this same time- though at least handhelds have a history of that).
The PS4 Pro launches on November 10 this year for $399.