My friends and I have this conspiracy theory that we’re pretty sure is more than a theory. I think many of you out there probably share our suspicion as well, so I’ll go ahead and tell you what we think is happening. See I’m an Android guy; always have been. One of my best friends has always had iPhones, though. He and his family have always been fairly well off, financially, and ever since Apple released the very first iPhone my friend has had one. We’ve noticed over the course of almost a decade that the release of every new iPhone is typically accompanied by a compelling need to upgrade from the last one; almost as though Apple was secretly sabotaging its legacy models in order to force upgrades upon its customers.
Whether or not this is actually happening we don’t know, but we have our opinions. I bring this up because I think it’s a fairly common suspicion with any line of iterative devices. Console gamers have never had to worry about this kind of thing, but the days of solid, safe, five-to-seven-year console generations are behind us now. The Xbox One S is here at last, and not only is it smaller, it actually has a slightly faster processor. The PS4 Neo will have a better processor as well, and its GPU is twice as powerful as the current PS4’s GPU. This has led several people (and outlets) to speculate that the main reason Sony will be offering Neo is for enhanced PlayStation VR support.
The idea is that big bad Sony wants to force everyone to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new PS4 Neo by dangling PlayStation VR like a carrot on a stick. Pretty soon we vanilla PS4 owners are going to find out that our puny GPUs are the only thing holding us back from experiencing PS VR the way it was meant to be experienced. Anyone foolish enough to drop 500 smackers on their shiny new virtual reality HMD will soon find out from the latest game reviews that it’s no more than a marginal upgrade from Google Carboard until Neo comes into play.
Fears may even be exacerbated by the fact that the recently released Xbox One S does indeed offer some slight performance boosts to Xbox One games – something Microsoft said wouldn’t happen. Some games are seeing 8-10 FPS improvements on the Xbox One S, which is utilizing an overclocked version of the same GPU found in the original Xbox One. PS4 Neo, on the other hand, will feature a different GPU; a more powerful GPU twice as fast as the chip currently housed in the vanilla PS4. Could that mean that VR developers end up catering to Neo while original PS4 owners are effectively told to upgrade and try again?
Well, I’m here to tell you not to get your knickers in a bunch. We need not have any forced-upgrade paranoia here – not over PlayStation VR, anyway. I can say that with confidence. Not because of any kind of spooky insider knowledge I possess as a games journalist, but for some very simple reasons that should be clear to everyone. Our most solid cause for confidence is a statement from Sony Worldwide boss Shuhei Yoshida himself, who recently reiterated that all PlayStation VR titles will be playable on PS4 – now, and in the future. Neo will be an upgrade for enthusiasts and early 4K adopters, but Yoshida wants PlayStation VR to appeal to a broader audience. “We believe that everyone can enjoy the entertainment content on PSVR,” he said at a recent conference in Hong Kong. “Not just gamers, but a lot more people enjoy PSVR.”
Additionally, the main advantage PlayStation VR has over Oculus and the HTC Vive is the fact that there are over 40 million PS4s out there. Now we all know Sony is in this to make as much money as possible, but ask yourself: what makes the most sense? Should they tempt a few million PS4 owners into purchasing an upgraded Neo by ensuring that it’s the only platform that will properly support PS VR, or should they make sure that PS VR is properly, consistently optimized for PS4 in order to entice possibly tens of millions of people to purchase their VR product? The big money is in the latter proposal, folks, and if Sony wants to win the 2016 VR sprint and position itself favorably for the impending marathon, perfect PS4 / PS VR functionality is a no-brainer.
What’s your take? Not buying it? Do you think Sony is pushing out PlayStation VR before Neo in order to market the latter more aggressively? Even if PS VR works perfectly on PS4, would you be angry if the visual fidelity was improved on a Neo? Should there be enhancements for Neo investors at all? Why or why not? Let us know what you think in the comments.