PlayStation 4 Pro Not Actually 4K, But Close

For months, rumors and leaks about the “PlayStation 4 Neo” have been going around, stoking the fires of excitement in the hearts and minds of fans. So when the console was finally revealed during Sony’s PlayStation event, it was amidst a maelstrom of high expectations. The company tried to meet those expectations as best they could with technical trickery that allowed the console to produce gaming visuals practically indistinguishable from 4K with the naked eye. Unfortunately, this is not enough for many.

On a marketing standpoint, it’s understandable that Sony would market the “PS4 Pro” as 4K hardware. However, the footage that was shown during the September 7th event was not rendered in 4K, Venture Beat notes. In the case of some of them, such as the teaser reveal of “Mass Effect: Andromeda” and samples of “The Last Of Us” the visuals were actually about 90 percent that of 4K.

According to Sony, this is exactly what they intended. The reasons for not giving the console that kind of rendering power is because it would have simply made the console too expensive, and that’s the kind of thing that made the “PS3” a slow starter. During the presentation, PlayStation technical chief Mark Cerny himself confirmed this to be the case.

“Brute-force rendering techniques can, of course, be used to support [4K] displays,” he said. “But they have unfortunate consequences for console cost and form factor.”

Even with the technical limitation, Engadget still puts down the “PS4 Pro” as a step in the right direction. Not only does it beef up performance and visuals for games running on 1080p, it also helps make rendering more efficient for much smoother gameplay. Finally, it’s fully capable of bringing out the full PS VR experience at the cost of only $399. The headset might be a different issue, but at such a low price tag for the console itself, consumers will at least be given the chance to afford both.