Developers weigh in with opinions and arguments on the benefits of a mid-generation PlayStation 4 upgrade.
Today's news that the PlayStation Neo is an actual, real product confirmed what had seemed to be a very viable rumor for a few weeks now, as rumors and reports out of both Microsoft and Sony confirmed that both companies were looking into mid-generation hardware upgrades for their respective consoles.
The response hasn't been overwhelmingly positive. Players have shown frustration at the thought of having to buy another console so soon to keep up with gameplay, and developers have expressed worry that the PSVR will only be optimized for this future PlayStation 4.
With these thoughts in mind, we decided to poll our audience for our regular Devs Answer column for their thoughts on the PlayStation Neo.
Remember, if you're interested in participating in these conversations in the future, make sure to follow @Gamasutra on Twitter. The questions usually go out on Fridays in the late morning, Pacific time, alongside Tweets of our regular news, blogs, and original writing.
Developers, how do you feel about the confirmed existence of a mid-gen upgraded PS4? https://t.co/YyeC4iLfBA
— Gamasutra (@gamasutra) June 10, 2016
As we polled our readership, we were fairly surprised to find a mostly even set of responses around our readership--developers seemed mostly equally convinced that this could be good for VR, doom for the games industry, or something that wasn't very impactful at all. (And developers who were positive about these mid-gen consoles weren't really far behind.)
In the direct responses, things got more nuanced. Frequent Gamasutra blogger Lars Doucet wonders why one of the biggest advantages for consoles is being taken away.
@gamasutra I'm a little confused because I thought the whole point of a console was one fixed set of hardware specs...
— f'(Lars Doucet) (@larsiusprime) June 10, 2016
@larsiusprime @gamasutra that said I expect having two separate checklists to meet for PS4Vanilla and PS4Neo will raise cert costs/time
— f'(Lars Doucet) (@larsiusprime) June 10, 2016
Another developer only going by Laughing Fox points out that devs working towards VR will have a specific platform they can target, and generally thinks the presence of a more powerful PS4 may help the VR market as a whole.
@CMBasckeira @larsiusprime Devs targeting VR can go for the Neo specifically. That's the only difference here, otherwise lowest common denom
— Laughing Fox (@psj885) June 10, 2016
Other developers like Matt Lucas definitely see more frustration once Microsoft releases their version of the mid-generation console, and anticipates it could impact development time.
@gamasutra Makes me glad I'm not deving for PS4, but if / when it comes to Xbox One, it'll probably be annoying, more hardware, time, etc.
— Matt DeLucas (@MattrifiedGames) June 10, 2016
And lastly a reader who goes by silver doesn't think this will impact the current console market--though the next generation of consoles could be impacted by these "mid-gen" upgrades.
@gamasutra meh, it's not going anywhere. Perhaps the next generation of consoles, but not this.
— silver (@arcticokami) June 10, 2016
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