Sony is making an upgraded version of the PS4, that we know. We were pretty sure of it before, and we’re absolutely sure now. But despite the near-universal plaudits surrounding Sony’s E3 press conference, the new PS4 “Neo” was palpably absent — probably the biggest thing happening in the Playstation ecosystem this year, but nary a mention. There was even a pretty clear place for it there at the end, replaced instead with a curiously extended gameplay segment of Days Gone.
I’m not criticizing — there was basically nothing to criticize in that hour long, nonstop fusillade of game trailers and announcements. But it leads one to wonder: when is Sony actually going to announce this thing? All reports have the machine arriving in holiday 2016, which doesn’t leave a whole lot of time.
Noted insider Shinobi602 says that we’ll hear more at Paris Games Week at the end of October, pegging the Neo for a November release by necessity. Tokyo Game Show in September is also an option, which also opens up October for a release date. October seems more likely to me, overall, especially because we already have a release date for PSVR, and I doubt Sony wants to release their headset without the Neo — first time buyers already shelling out cash for PSVR could easily be convinced to pick up a more powerful system at the same time.
The other option would be some sort of independent event similar to what the company did for the PS4, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. The PS4 is just a much, much bigger announcement than the Neo and I can’t quite imagine how Sony would go about filling an entire presentation.
My guess is Tokyo Game Show — it’s Sony’s home turf, after all, and the timing works out very well. The messaging around this product is going to be very tricky, and it will be very interesting to see how Sony handles this whole thing. The initial reports were met with what I’d call trepidation, but since them it’s become eminently clear that this is the way the console industry is going, like it or not.
forbes.com
