PlayStation Neo: The What, Why and How

If you are planning to get your hands on a PS4, hold off on your plans. Word around the interwebs is that Sony is working on a slightly upgraded version of the PS4 codenamed Neo.

The PlayStation 4.5/Neo is rumored to support 4K gaming. To do so, it will need an excessive amount of power and if the leaked specs are to be believed, it will be packing a lot of it. The CPU performance is expected to increase by 1.3 times while the GPU will see a performance increase by a whooping 2.3 times. The memory is rumored to have 24% more bandwidth and 512MB of extra usable memory. 

The rumor was started by the gaming website Giant Bomb but soon more sources started reporting the same rumor. AMD, the supplier of chips for PS4, has recently stated that they have received orders for customized chips from three different companies which will give the company a significant financial boost. With strong rumors of an upgraded PS4 circling around the same time AMD received the orders for producing new customized chips, the theory that these two events are linked can't, by no means, be laughed away. 

The release of PlayStation Neo will not necessarily spell the end of the line for the PS4. Games will come in two versions – the base mode and the Neo mode. The base mode will be in 1080p resolution and will be optimized for the base model of PS4. The Neo mode can be either 1080p or 4K and will feature improvements in terms of frame-rate, graphical quality and image fidelity. 

The motives behind releasing a new version of the console within just three years of launch are many. Firstly, the leap in hardware from the last-gen consoles to current-gen ones was never large enough. With the rise of 4K and VR, the lack of hardware prowess is becoming more and more obvious. Secondly, the concept of releasing multiple consoles within the same generation is not entirely new. This is usually done to keep the profit margin of the manufacturers a constant. While earlier, the consoles received upgrades only in terms of casing and storage capacity, this time the upgrade seems to be more significant. 

The release of an upgraded PS4 is likely to cause more trouble than good. Current users, who bought the system just three or even fewer years ago, will find their consoles antiquated and obsolete. Even if they get to play the base mode of future games, there will always be the dissatisfaction of missing out on the Neo mode. 

Gamers will not be the only one affected though. Having to develop two modes of the same game will essentially mean increased development time and effort. BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk says that the process is "painful". The reason PC games often get poorly optimized ports is because developers have to optimize their games for a large number of hardware setups and they eventually choose to neglect it. With multiple versions of PS4 surfacing on the market, the same amount of "laziness" may also haunt future PS4 titles. 

Despite the presence of strong evidence, none of this is still official. The best course of action for gamers is now to wait for an official confirmation/cancellation.

Nony Khondaker is an introvert with immense passion for tech and music. Feel free to send your constructive feedback at [email protected] or follow him on twitter.com/NonyKhondaker