Everything we know about the rumoured PlayStation Neo, also known as PS4.5 or PS4K, including the potential PS4.5 release date, specs, price and games.
Not content with letting the Nintendo NX steal this year’s limelight with a brand new console, Sony has decided to bring out a ‘.5’ iteration on the PlayStation 4, if rumours are to be believed.
The PS4.5, which also goes by the name PlayStation Neo or 'PS4K', has been circulating for a little while now, with rumours regarding specs and potential release dates gaining significant momentum in recent weeks.
To go through all the speculation, TrustedReviews has put together a round-up of everything we know so far. We’ll be updating this page if and when Sony decides to unveil the new console (if it exists) so bookmark this page for all the latest information.
WHAT IS IT THE PS4.5?
The PS4.5 is a souped-up PlayStation 4, bringing upgrades to hardware specs to deliver better graphical performance for games, better support for the forthcoming PlayStation VR and 4K resolution support, hence the alternative PS4K moniker.
But it's not the start of a new console generation, so is not considered a PlayStation 5. PS4 games will work on the console, though they are expected to receive a boost to performance. How much of an increase remains unknown.
It's also known as 'PS4K' because it's expected to feature an Ultra HD Blu-ray player, so you'll be able to watch 4K Blu-ray discs on the console.
PS4.5 SPECS – HOW MUCH MORE POWERFUL WILL THE CONSOLE BE THAN A PS4?
According to a new report from Giant Bomb, the PS4.5's official codename is ‘Neo’, and the same report also details more about the potential performance of the new console.
The Neo will feature a superior clock speed to the PS4 (2.1 GHz vs 1.6 Ghz), as well as an improved GPU.
Specifically, the current PS4 features an AMD GCN with 18 compute units running at 800MHz, but the PS4 Neo is expected to have 36 compute units running at a faster 911MHz clock speed. So that's double the potential processing units and at a higher clock speed, which explains previous claims that the PS4.5 would be twice as powerful as the PS4.
That's not all. While the Neo will still ship with 8GB of GDDR5 memory, it be faster – 218GB/s vs 176GB/s, just shy of 24% faster than the PS4's memory.
AMD recently confirmed that it has a selection of new chips in development for 2016. First reported by Ars Technica, AMD will have three new semi-custom systems (SOC) releasing in the coming months, one of which is set to debut later in 2016.
Many believe this will be very same component used to power PS4.5, cosidering AMD had a hand in both the development of PS4 and Xbox One in the past.
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What all this means is that the PS4.5 should run faster, with fewer framerate tears in more intensive games, providing a smoother gaming experience across the board.
It's suggested that games will be able to run in 4K, but that won't be a requirement for games. Instead the console will be able to upscale to 4K, but Sony's determined this shouldn't come at the expense of the game's framerate.
Moreover, no game will be exclusive to the new console. Games will have an 'enhanced' mode that will improve the graphics on the upgraded version, but they still have to work on normal PS4 consoles.
PS4.5 RELEASE DATE – WHEN WILL THE ‘PLAYSTATION NEO’ LAUNCH?
While a specific release date, or even announcement date is yet to be revealed, there has been some speculation about when Sony plans to release its mid-cycle console upgrade, and it’s a little surprising.
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According to a report from Wall Street Journal, the ‘PlayStation Neo’ will arrive before the PlayStation VR, which was revealed at GDC. Considering that the PSVR costs £350 in the UK, to ask consumers to potentially spend a similar amount on another piece of hardware in the same year could be a tough pill to swallow for gamers.
French video games distributor Innelec Multimedia states the console will launch before or during October, the same month Playstation VR will release. According to its latest financial report, a new piece of console hardware referred to as "Neo 4K" will arrive during the first half of the current financial year.
Further rumours suggest the console will be unveiled at this year's Tokyo Games Show alongside the Nintendo NX in September. Such an announcement would make an October release more than likely.
Related: E3 2016: What we'd like to see
With PSVR already garnering a lot of positive feedback and hype – being the cheapest high-end VR hardware on the market and also the most accessible for the largest audience – it seems strange that Sony would be considering competing with itself for customer cash.
According to the Giant Bomb report, every game launched post-October will require native support for both PS4 and the Neo, though this doesn’t confirm an October release date for the new hardware.
Games released in late-September will also require post-launch patches to bring them up to PS4.5 standards, which suggests the console could launch around this time, but nothing is certain yet.
PS4.5 PRICE – HOW MUCH WILL THE PS4.5 COST?
At the moment there are no details on a price for the console. Considering Sony is already asking for £350 from consumers this year if you’re willing to invest in VR, it’d be surprising to ask them to double down on an equally-expensive new console.
Sony could potentially get a huge leg-up on the competition and re-assert itself as the dominant console this generation by offering an incremental upgrade at an incredibly-competitive price, but the chances are this will be a pricey upgrade.
PS4.5 GAMES – WILL THERE BE EXCLUSIVE SOFTWARE FOR THE PS4.5?
All reports suggest the PS4K will feature upgraded performance, but no exclusive games. It is believed that Sony will not allow a split userbase with some software only playable on the new hardware.
As mentioned above, games launched in late September will require patches to provide performance improvements for the new hardware, and any software launched in October and beyond will require native support for the new hardware, according to these documents.
According to a recent report in Edge Magazine (via IBTimesUK) PS4.5 exists because initial performance of Playstation VR on launch consoles was "truly awful." If true, we may see some Playstation VR titles coming exclusively to PS4.5, if original machines aren't up to the task.
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