It wouldn’t be crazy to think that Sony and Microsoft are in direct competition with one another as their respective consoles battle it out for sales. Not only that, but both companies are releasing a more powerful and upgraded version of their current console mid-cycle so you’d be forgiven for thinking that Sony would have an eye on what Microsoft are doing.
However according to Sony Interactive Entertainment’s President and Global CEO Andrew House, that’s not the case as he has claimed that the PS4 Pro was developed to compete against the PC market and was not a response to Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox Scorpio, despite the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One competing against each other in the console market.
Speaking to the The Guardian, Andrew House stated that Sony had seen data that suggested there’s a dip mid-console cycle where players migrate from their console to PC for a “better graphical experience”. Obviously, Sony want to keep as many people playing the PS4 as possible. Not only that, but they want them to buy a PS4 Pro as well.
“We wanted to keep those people within our ecosystem by giving them the very best and very highest [performance quality]. So the net result of those thoughts was PlayStation 4 Pro – and, by and large, a graphical approach to game improvement.”
House also revealed that he isn’t concerned about Xbox Scorpio and is instead focusing on trying to sell a further 20 million units before the end of 2017.
“We’re 40 million units into this lifecycle [and] our declared goal is to be a further 20 million units above that by the end of next year. At that point we’ve got a pretty good sense of where the momentum of the lifecycle is, but I think the Pro can be something new, innovative and possibly take us in a slightly different direction.”