In order to make up for how lackluster this generation of consoles has been, Microsoft and Sony are planning to release upgraded versions of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 sometime in the near future. Microsoft has been fairly open about what to expect from its upgrade, known as Project Scorpio, but the same can’t be said about Sony. The good news is that some explanatory documents that Sony gave to game developers regarding its own upgrade, known as the PlayStation 4 Neo, have been leaked online. The bad news is that the documents seem to do little more than reiterate what little Sony has already told us about the Neo.
What started off as a rumour based on reporters overhearing developers chat at GDC earlier this year, was later confirmed to be real: an upgraded version of PlayStation 4 is in development. A couple of weeks after the initial report, another one popped up that included specific details for specs, computation power target, and more. This report was based on documents Sony provided to developers to explain why the upgrade was being made and what it’s looking for, in terms of supporting content. It now seems these documents have been made available online. The 42-page presentation is pretty comprehensive, covering everything from development tricks to reach 4K or near 4K resolution in games, to some dates for when prototype units are to be expected. Although we have not verified the veracity of the documents, they do appear legit, if outdated. That aside, these documents are more than likely what the recent reports were based on, seeing as how plenty of details (like specs, target release date etc.) are a match.
