Sony are yet to officially announce the development of an upgraded mid-generation PlayStation 4, however there are now reports circulating that a PlayStation 4.5 is currently in the works with prototype devices available in Sony’s Research and Development labs.
According to Digital Foundry, they have been able to confirm various independent sources who claim that a PlayStation 4.5, which is being called PlayStation 4K by the sources in question, is being built at Sony.
However while PlayStation 4K seems to be the name given to this upgraded PlayStation 4 console, Digital Foundry have stated in a report that it will be unlikely that the console will actually offer native 4K gaming at the same quality we currently enjoy with 1080p games on the PS4. They do note that the PlayStation 4K will have increased GPU power though.
While native 4K gaming doesn’t seem realistic at the moment, the report goes on to speculate what the new console may actually bring to the table with three likely options. They reckon that the PlayStation 4K will either be a tweaked console with increased processing power, a console offering selected 4K features or a slim version of the PS4 offering small performance upgrades.
“While more GPU power is being offered to developers, realistically it is nowhere near enough to provide native 4K gaming at the same quality level as current 1080p titles”, says Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbitter. “The full extent of the spec is a current focus of enquiry for us, but realistically, it is simply impossible to cram the equivalent of today’s top-end PC graphics hardware into a console-sized, mass-market box.”
“Everything we’ve heard positions PlayStation 4K as a machine capable of playing current and next-generation ultra HD media, while also offering support for other aspects of the 4K spec, such as high-dynamic range and a wider colour gamut – aspects of the 4K spec that could be introduced to gaming. However, in terms of additional computational power, we’ve got be realistic about what Sony can deliver with a mid-generation refresh.”
Source: *Digital Foundry