While Microsoft is being criticized for announcing the Project Scorpio at E3 event, many have praised Sony for not showing its upcoming PlayStation Neo. Project Scorpio is not going to hit the store shelves until late 2017, but recent rumors indicate that Sony may launch its PS Neo by September this year. There are concerns that the impending launch of PlayStation Neo could shorten the life cycle of the PlayStation 4.
PlayStation Neo will complement the PS4
However, Sony believes that the upgraded Neo won’t affect the PS4’s life cycle. Shuhei Yoshida, the president of worldwide studios at Sony Interactive Entertainment, said in an interview with the German website GamesWelt that the PS4’s life cycle is not going to be shorter because the “new high-end PS4 is still PS4.” Yoshida’s statement is in line with Sony Interactive Entertainment president Andrew House, who said the PlayStation Neo will “sit alongside and complement the standard PS4.”
Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox at Microsoft, also recently stated that the Project Scorpio won’t shorten the life cycle of Xbox one. Experts have criticized Microsoft for unveiling Project Scorpio “the most powerful gaming console ever made,” alongside the Xbox One Slim, which is due later this year. They believe consumers will prefer to wait for the more powerful Project Scorpio over buying the Xbox One S.
Sony exec surprised at Project Scorpio announcement
Yoshida did not reveal when the PlayStation Neo will be available. But he was surprised to see Microsoft announcing Project Scorpio at the E3 event. “I was not expecting them to talk about it,” he said. Richard Leadbetter of Eurogamer reports that Neo is indeed slated for 2016 release. An early release of PlayStation Neo would make sense considering the Japanese company would launch the PlayStation in October.
The PS4 was a grand success while the Xbox One received a lukewarm response. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming Neo will stack up against the Xbox One S and Project Scorpio.
