With PS4 NEO Skipping E3 2016 When Will It Be Revealed?

Rumors of a more powerful PlayStation 4 have been making the rounds on the internet since GDC back in March and many have been wondering when we would hear something official. The PS4 NEO or PS4K as some call it was assumed to be making an appearance at E3 2016 this year where many figured we would get official details. That all changed this past week when President of Sony Interactive Entertainment Andrew House confirmed that an “upgraded” PS4 is in the works.

House stated that the “upgraded” PS4 would be targeted at hardcore gamers and those who have a 4K TV and wish to have the best resolution. Sony plans on selling the current PS4 and the PS4 NEO side by side for the duration of the lifecycle. House did not confirm a price or date although he did say it would be more expensive than the current $350 PS4 model. Then came the news that Sony will not be showing the PS4 NEO at E3 this upcoming week. To many that is a surprise as most figured it would be the perfect time especially with rumors of Microsoft planning to show their upgraded Xbox One model codenamed “Scorpio”. With Sony choosing not to show the PS4 NEO at E3 when will it be shown?

I personally see nothing wrong with them skipping E3 as House stated that they want to have a good array of content to show when they reveal it. This indicates that they don’t have enough games up and running on the NEO yet to be worth showing. It is hard to say when they will show it especially since we don’t know if Sony plans to attend Gamescom this year. Last year Sony skipped Gamescom because it took place only a few weeks after E3 and they didn’t feel like that was a long enough period of time to show off more new content. Instead they opted to do a press conference at Paris Games Week at the end of October instead. The same thing could happen again this year. With that said I think if Sony attends Gamescom then they will reveal the PS4 NEO there. If they don’t they will either do their own reveal event like they did for the PS4 in February 2013 or they will show it at Paris Games Week. I don’t think Tokyo Games Show is a big enough event to reveal it at nor is it the main audience they are targeting it at. I say 0% chance of a reveal at TGS.

This also brings up the question of will Sony launch the PS4 NEO this year? My guess is that they won’t for several reasons. There were reports awhile back that starting in September every game released on PS4 will be required to have a “NEO” mode to support the PS4 NEO. However I question if that was true as Andrew House stated that all PS4 games will support the regular PS4 and most if not all will support the PS4 NEO. This to me seems like Sony may not be forcing developers to make a NEO mode as reports seemed to indicate. Getting back to the release date question I think Sony chooses to launch the upgraded model in early 2017. The reason being if they launch it around the same time as the PlayStation VR they could really hurt potential sales for the PSVR as many will be forced to choose between buying the VR Headset or the upgraded PS4. I myself am one of those people who can’t afford both so I’ll have to pass on one of them when I would like both. Also if they end up not revealing it until October possibly that further drives home that it will launch in 2017.

I personally think that upcoming PS4 exclusive Horizon: Zero Dawn will be one of the games to really utilize the PS4 NEO. The game was delayed until February 28, 2017 and I could see Sony waiting to launch the PS4 NEO alongside Horizon so it has a huge exclusive game to go with it. Heck Sony might even do a special bundle to further try and convince people to buy the upgraded hardware. One thing is for sure and that is we won’t be seeing the NEO at E3 so now we all just sit and wait for more details to come to light.

What do you think of the PS4 NEO not being at E3 2016? Are you planning on buying it? Tell us in the comments below.