Today, Sony finally pulled the veil — basically translucent at this point — off the Neo, officially known as the PlayStation 4 Pro. It’s a more powerful PlayStation 4 that will support 4K and HDR. Impressions so far are… mixed.
The PS4 Pro’s beefier hardware specs do present some intriguing possibilities, largely involving improved framerates for VR and games like Bloodborne. But that stuff’s not confirmed. Largely, general sentiment surrounding the new machine seems to be, “Why should I buy this shiny new thing? What’s the appeal beyond, ‘It’s shiny and new?’ Especially if I don’t own a fancy TV?” Also, people think its name isn’t great, and it looks like a staircase.
So aside from being prettier & running… better (?)… if you own a PS4, & have infinite cash, why should you get a PS4 Pro?
— Tauriq Moosa (@tauriqmoosa) September 7, 2016
I literally don’t know anyone with 4K #SouthAfricaTechProblems https://t.co/KcA7KMmsDa
— Tauriq Moosa (@tauriqmoosa) September 7, 2016
Sony failed to answer a lot of questions that current, non-4KTV-owning PS4 players will have in that conference. Not great.
— David Scammell (@VG_Dave) September 7, 2016
Not sure about PS4 Pro. You want console power? Get a Scorpio. You want an intro next-gen console? Get a PS4. The PS4 Pro is for…?
— Justin Davis (@ErrorJustin) September 7, 2016
So far, I’m pre-ordering an iPhone 7 and not a PS4 Pro.
Don’t have a 4K TV, so it’s not for me apparently…#PlayStationMeeting
— Greg Miller (@GameOverGreggy) September 7, 2016
until i come up with something more thorough, here’s my analysis of today’s PlayStation thing pic.twitter.com/xfaRwOXs1e
— Disreputable Bog Man (@bobservo) September 7, 2016
the best part of PCs is upgrading, then running all your old games at 60 FPS without breaking a sweat. if the PS4 Pro can’t provide that… ?
— Nick Robinson (@Babylonian) September 7, 2016
On second thought I can’t imagine buying a PS4 Pro at all unless it’ll improve PS4 games’ framerates, which wasn’t mentioned today at all.
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) September 7, 2016
i think with the help of a $5 bottle of wine, visual quality between PS4 and PS4 Pro should be about even
— Kris Graft (@krisgraft) September 7, 2016
here’s the thing about HDR: you really can’t understand what it is until you see it in motion extensively
— Phil Owen (@philrowen) September 7, 2016
I wish PS4 pro were stair shape. So you can put something on there. #PS4pro pic.twitter.com/DpIjmUL2Pm
— 高橋慶太 (@KeitaTakahash) September 7, 2016
I would like to applaud Sony for the PS4 Pro’s “Tower of Power” approach to industrial design. pic.twitter.com/7BJkryhb4c
— John Hardin (@JohnLHardin) September 7, 2016
shit look like a staircase https://t.co/7L1Md8apTW
— ushie (@ushieplstop) September 7, 2016
Introducing the PS4™ Propropropro pic.twitter.com/OGZyV0JSgM
— Mom (@truongasm) September 7, 2016
this shit looks like a triple decker sandwich lol wtf https://t.co/0CczlOI28X
— Josh (@SgtVelocity) September 7, 2016
.@GameOverGreggy and @TimGettys nailed it. That entire #PlayStationMeeting felt like old school, we don’t have a clue Sony.
— Jesse Cox (@JesseCox) September 7, 2016
• 4K
• HDR
• VR Ready
• 1,000’s of games
• Available Now pic.twitter.com/4RQkRKg98I— Mike (@TheMoronMike) September 7, 2016
Pro is latin for ‘for’
Playstation Four For.— H. Bomberguy (@Hbomberguy) September 7, 2016
No ultra HD blu-ray in the PS4 Pro, but the Xbox One S does. Blu-ray is Sony’s thing, @PlayStation. This makes 0 sense.
— Amrit (@Kurapika92) September 7, 2016
The inevitable PlayStation 4 Pro Plus will obvs have 4k Blu-Ray support. And a caffeine dispenser.
— Matt Gardner (@FuzzyPixels) September 7, 2016
Why didn’t they just name it Playstation 4K? Do I have to do all of the marketing around here? #PS4Pro
— Shagner (@ShaggleROC) September 7, 2016
4K HDR? Yawn. Call me when games look good enough to fill the soul-crushing emptiness.
— Walt Williams (@waltdwilliams) September 7, 2016
finally, I can throw away my amateur ps4
— Nathan Grayson (@Vahn16) September 7, 2016
4K streaming & Blu-Ray ✅
HDR gaming ✅
Greatest games ✅
40% smaller ✅
Xbox One S from $299: https://t.co/GzguOUfMeV pic.twitter.com/vWb6r1x9PD— Xbox (@Xbox) September 7, 2016
So that’s… a lot of negativity. Anybody out there sold on the PS4 Pro? Or even excited about it? Why?
Comments
15 responses to “The Internet Reacts To The PlayStation 4 Pro”
I already own an original PS4 and I’m not the incremental upgrading type, so I’m not planning to jump to the Pro.
However, I imagine there are plenty of people who don’t yet own a PS4, have a 4K TV and are enticed by Sony exclusives, and if I were one of them, I’d be stoked. I definitely see a market for it. I don’t get the negativity. It’s not like they were announcing the PS5. *shrug*
I don’t have a 4K or HDR TV so the only possible reason for me to get it would be the possible frame rate improvement, that ans also if I have so much money I don’t know what to do with them. Pretty disappointing.
Even the PS4 slim is pretty disappointing. Not running any cooler or quieter and no more optical out port.
Haven’t jumped on this gen yet and will likely hang off for Scorpio. Know nothing about it and it is still more enticing than PS4 Pro…
All this 4K gaming focus today is clearly a commercial decision.
So here’s the thing – the PS4 Pro is obviously geared as much to offering an optimal Playstation VR experience as it is marketed towards 4K gaming.
BUT they can’t say it… yet…
Why? Because they need to be able to sell the PSVR headset to the market when it arrives. The vast majority of the potential market will be owners of the PS4 classic and the headset won’t sell so well if the PS4 Pro is marketed as the optimum VR platform of choice.
People will be less inclined to spend $550 on a headset that only offers the base experience with their current console. Sony are clearly being careful with their message to ensure the success of a what will end up being a key differentiator in the console wars.
But I am sure that as the Pro and PSVR matures, you will probably see marketing position of the updated console shift towards highlighting it as the optimal VR experience, and the benefits of adopting the incremental upgrade will become more apparent to the consumer.
No 4k blu-ray, inferior GPU specs compared to Scorpio, non-native 4k games (upscaled from FHD), expensive for a non-4k blu-ray console… Sony have seriously shot themselves in the foot. The only thing going for them is a full year head-start over the Scorpio. It’s like how the 360 was the technically inferior console but won the generation because it was released a full year ahead of the PS3. However, things are different today than 10 years ago. I think Xbox will ultimately win because gamers will gravitate to the console with superior graphical performance as they did earlier this gen with the PS4. Once the Scorpio comes out there will be a shift away from the PS4 Pro, especially multi-platform games. Game over, Sony.
I think you are exactly on point with your comment. Microsoft won the last generation because it was first, but at this stage their is no point in upgrading unless you have a 4K TV. When the scorpio comes out, their will be a greater number of 4K TV’s being sold, as the prices have dropped to a point where you cannot justify buying a HD TV. At this stage, Microsoft will have the more powerful console, and we all saw what happened when one console was more “powerful” than the other….
I feel that Sony have jumped the gun here and rushed a product to market that really does not make sense.
Was a little disappointed with the pro. I have a smart tv with YouTube/Netflix 4K streaming ( which I can’t use because my internet is too slow) and I have a 1tb HDD in my ps4, so I can’t really see myself upgrading especially since it doesn’t have 4K BluRay capability. Also VR is out the month before its release need time to restock the wallet.
The Pro may be under powered (GPU anyway) compared to the Scorpio – but it’s how you use those teraflops that counts.
Most importantly the Pro has a 12 month headstart which is massive.
No 4K Bluray? meh.. I don’t care about Bluray. Just give me 4K gaming.
I’ll be happy to replace my PS4 with a Pro when it dies – it’s served me well from release.
When it dies? It’s three years old. My NES is still going and it was built in 1988.
All the whinging it’s not really any different to the Xbone S. Why would you get one if you already have an Xbox One and don’t have a 4k TV? Well, you wouldn’t. Unless you’re some 15 year old that takes it to grandmas house every weekend and need a smaller device with inbuilt PSU.
Tbh, I have a 4k TV, my 4k TV does not have an inbuilt HEVC decoder so needs external 4k input. I already have an Xbox One, and wont update to an S because it’s white, and I don’t need a beacon to gaming in my entertainment unit of black devices. If the PS4 pro had 4k bluray, I’d probably buy one, but it doesn’t, so I won’t. Hurry up Scorpio, or, whatever, I might just buy a new TV with a HEVC decoder by then and not care.
My house got broken into two weeks ago and they stole all my consoles. The PS4 Pro is appealing to me as I need to replace my PS4 and TV anyway, and I may as well go 4K. 4K is cheap now, I don’t see why everyone is bagging the console, it’s a nice upgrade and someone needed to offer a high-end package. It was a matter of time until someone did. Hopefully this helps Sony move some TVs because they need all the help they can get. Outside of Playstation their other divisions are doing pretty badly. I guess if I get bored with the PS4 Pro I can crack it to run Linux anyway, the extra processing power will help Steam run well on it.
Doesn’t play 4K BluRay Movies so you can’t sell the “Pro” to parents with money as an upgraded BluRay player that can do games and surf the net like you could with the PS3/Original PS4.
Considering “the Matrix” codename Morpheus and Neo for the VR and Pro, they are basically saying if you want a VR experience you need the Pro with just saying it. Clearly, the marketing department is doing its job at Sony trying to sell you a solution to a problem that DOESN’T exist.
This “Pro” concept should be in the next generation of consoles as a standard console no need to trade in my PS4v1 for a PS4v2 or PS4Pro.
I’m still a bit stunned by the lack of a 4K BD player. Not what I was expecting. I’m the type of person who doesn’t like lots of different boxes all doing different things if it can be avoided. When I upgraded from PS1 to PS2 I got the DVD remote and it was great. When I upgraded to the PS3 I got the BD remote and PlayTV so we could have TV on the projector. We are now in a different house, no projector, I have The Last Guardian CE on pre-order and am going to buy a 4K HDR TV soon but I won’t be able to play the game until I get a PS4. After waiting 9 years for the game I’m in no hurry to play it & I will wait until there is a PS4 with a 4K BD player. If that never happens I will eventually get a cheap run out PS4 or a second hand one. PS4 Pro has a big hole in it’s specs for me.
I pre ordered one but am disappointed with no 4K blu ray player. $349 (after trade in at EB games) is a good price for me to upgrade and it will count as my xmas/birthday present. I’ve got a 4K TV and have been after a 4K blu ray player and I was probably going to get a scorpio to replace my current xbox one so I can use as my 4K blu ray player just wish I could get one in a couple of months.
I don’t get the emphasis by Sony on the fact that people are moving to streaming so they didn’t put a 4K blu ray player in it but focused on streaming services. Every 4K TV has netflix etc built in already. Only thing I could see is they will be putting out 4K video through the playstation video stores so want you buying/renting your 4K movies through them and not anyone else.
Focus on 4k streaming? Tell that to anyone living in Australia or any other country with subpar internet. The thought of streaming 4k content makes my ISP wet themselves in fear…