During the livescast following the PlayStation Meeting held in New York, PS4 System Architect Mark Cerny gave more color on the newly announced PS4 Pro, and on the goals that Sony has set for the machine.
You can read a summary of what he said below.
PS4 Pro “is not the start of a new generation nor it is a console that is going to blur the lines between generation.” According to Cerny, that’s important because there is “a certain cadence to game development.” At the start of a generation there’s a lot of work to be done, and adjustment as developers adapt to the new tools and tech. It allows them to create entirely new types of games, but there’s a cost associated with it. The target for Sony is to bring the PS4 experience to a new level without the disruption caused by a new generation.
The console is targeted mainly at higher fidelity graphics and smoother frame rate, which is important because they don’t alter the fundamental gameplay.
Support from publisher developers has been “great,” adapting “very quickly” to the new platform.
Sony is “asking” developers to support 4K with all new titles, and the same goes with HDR.
According to Cerny, a third of the TVs sold this year are 4K compatible, while HDR is “definitely further out there” in terms of adoption, but having the console out now means that the games will be “ready and waiting” as HDR penetration increases.
A 4K TV is not needed to enjoy PS4 Pro, with the game experience being enhanced in “any number of ways” on ordinary HDTV, and it also “dovetails very nicely” with PlayStation VR, granting “much crisper” and more detailed graphics on PS4 Pro.
Sony is “working very hard” to ensure that PS4 remains a “single, unified community.” Most of the user experience is similar, the games are the same, and the network is the same. The one difference is that PS4 Pro gives developers to make their games more impactful and immersive, and Cerny is looking forward to see how developers take advantage of it.
http://www.dualshockers.com/2016/09/07/ps4-pro-mark-cerny-gives-more-details-on-the-the-new-console-and-on-its-goals/