Microsoft’s Albert Penello has admitted the Xbox console maker was surprised by Sony’s decision to eschew 4K Blu-ray support for the upcoming PlayStation Pro.
Speaking during an interview with The Guardian, Penello commented: “I don’t want to bait any sort of console war, I have a lot of respect for what Sony does, but analytically, I think they made some interesting decisions in their product that surprised me. The lack of a 4K disc player, given Sony’s media background, was a surprise. Looking at what they’ve done historically, I don’t think many people would have predicted that.”
“Naturally technology is going to migrate to 4K,” he added. “This is not a flash in the pan – it’s not like 3D TV, it’s not like Smart TVs, I think that 4K is going to be, over the next few years, the predominant screen resolution that people are going to buy when they upgrade their sets. There are groups of data that have varying market share stats, but they pretty much agree that 4K will eventually take over.
“Personally, I think the shift from SD to HD was very meaningful – and I think the same about the move from 1080p to 4K. I do believe that, once the content starts to show up, people will be like, wow, this is worth the upgrade. When you look at a UHD Blu-ray, when you look at a 4K HDR streams from Netflix or Amazon, I believe you can really see the difference.”
PS4 Pro release date set for early November
Sony announced PS4 Pro during its PlayStation Meeting event in New York City earlier this month. The high-end console, which offers 4K gaming and improved frame rates, will hit stores on November 10, 2016 priced at $399/£349. Microsoft’s own 4K effort, Xbox Scorpio, will launch in holiday 2017.
In terms of performance, the PS4 Pro specs put it considerably more powerful than the regular version of Sony’s current-generation system, with Guerrilla Games suggesting the console packs twice the horsepower of the standard edition. However, Microsoft is known to have the edge in raw tech specs with the Xbox Scorpio.
Nonetheless, the creator behind the PS4-exclusive racer, DriveClub, reckons people are underestimating the power of the PS4 Pro.