There’s an argument to be made that Sony really cheaped out with the PlayStation 4 Pro, their ‘premium’ high end PS4 system, that is meant to be a more powerful iteration on the base PS4 hardware. While the omission of the UHD disc drive has been well covered by now, there is also the simple fact of the matter that the PS4 Pro is simply far too weak to manage native 4K rendering.
To Sony’s credit, they have more than made up for that via an ingenious upscaling technique that they call checkerboard rendering– but there is an argument to be made that there is difference between native and upscaled 4K, and that it’s there for everyone to see. This is an argument that becomes particularly pertinent when one considers that Microsoft have openly promised native 4K gaming on the Scorpio.
However, José Herráez, who handles PR for Tequila Softworks, the folks behind the upcoming RIME and The Sexy Brutale, feels that while the difference exists, and while the more discerning and informed eye will be able to perceive it, to the untrained, mass market customer, it will hardly matter.
Speaking to GamingBolt, Herráez sounded off with his personal take on the native versus upscaled 4K issue in response to a question we asked him, and admitted that to the mass market customer, it should hardly be something that matters. It should be noted, however, that he had stressed earlier in the interview that he is not a tech guy, and that he is only speaking from a consumer’s perspective.
“I think that [the difference between Scorpio’s native 4K and PS4 Pro’s upscaled 4K] won’t be noticeable to the untrained eye,” he said. “To the mass consumer, as a matter of speaking, I think it won’t make a lot of difference. Of course, to the very technical customer, or one very into the latest technology, it will matter, definitely. But for the mass consumer – and that is where the money is – I don’t think it will be that important.”
Microsoft, of course, feels that the performance difference between the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One Scorpio will be ‘obvious,’ but I think that arguing about whether or not someone can notice it is missing the larger point. It’s not like the Xbox One is too noticeably weak relative to the PS4, for example- but the PS4 being more powerful works as a talking point, a marketing bullet point, a soundbyte that Sony uses as a refrain to push the PS4. That will now be the advantage that Microsoft will have with the Scorpio- and maybe that will make all the difference in the world.