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PSVR

Ane of the consistent claims about the rumored PS4K upgrade is that Sony has absolutely mandated backwards compatibility. Developers are supposed to target both the PS4 and PlayStation 4K / PlayStation Neo, just they aren't allowed to introduce features or capabilities on one platform that don't piece of work on the other. An anonymous developer has challenged that assertion, challenge that part of why Sony put the PS4K into product is because it couldn't get VR to run at its target frame rates.

"PSVR was going to be terrible on a [launch] PS4," a source told Edge Magazine in an manifestly deleted tweet. "It was going to exist truly atrocious. Something a scrap more powerful starts to bring VR into range."

The anonymous source also commented on Sony's plans to upgrade the platform, saying: "I'm not interested in marketing strategies or adoption rates or any. I'chiliad non considering that. Simply as someone who does the technology for video games, somebody doubling my GPU and adding xxx% CPU is bright. I'd love that every two years. I'd love information technology every half dozen months, if possible. All I want is the almost powerful hardware that I tin can get my hands on."

There are several incongruities in the statement. Starting time, Sony has been demoing the PSVR arrangement for months now, and the feedback from those who've used it has been quite positive. It's possible that the anonymous source was referencing an earlier iteration of the hardware, maybe earlier Sony added an additional processing box or unlocked another core for developers to use. While the breakout box doesn't add whatsoever CPU or GPU performance, it handles 3D audio positioning, 2nd screen output, and the PS4'southward cinematic way. Polygon has more details on this aspect of the system if you desire to read up on it.

the-getaway-morpheus

Games like London Heist have won accolades, even in an unfinished state

Second, these comments imply that Sony's commitment to backwards compatibility is less robust than originally rumored — but given that at least some VR titles conspicuously run well on the PlayStation 4, there's no make clean way to split the difference. Microsoft, at least, appears to exist saying that VR is a feature for the upcoming Xbox One update, not the electric current console.

Did Sony actually want to build a PS4K?

The current explanation for why Sony built the PS4K is simple: It wanted to improve top-end operation using newer hardware than was bachelor when the panel launched. VRWorld has speculated that this isn't actually what collection the decision. According to Theo Valich, Sony initially planned on doing a straight die shrink from 28nm to 14nm, but didn't want to pay the price of moving from a 28nm planar pattern to a 14nm FinFET architecture. The departure between the two manufacturing nodes is significant plenty that the SoC would demand to be completely redesigned, at a cost between $100 million and $200 1000000 dollars.

planar-v-FinFET

As the paradigm shows, the transistor structure for 28nm planar silicon is very different than 14nm FinFET.

Instead, Sony and AMD hammered out an agreement in which Sony would adopt the 14nm successor to Jaguar every bit well as a GPU based on the Polaris architecture. Co-ordinate to Valich, the PS4K isn't actually based on Jaguar at all and volition instead leverage four "Zen Light" CPU cores. We'll take to wait and see if this proves true; we oasis't previously heard of a Zen Lite CPU core. Only information technology's at least theoretically possible that AMD built a version of its upcoming architecture for Sony rather than going to the problem of taking Jaguar down to 14nm FinFET. Everyone agrees that the GPU is based on Polaris, so there's no argument there.

It's going to be genuinely interesting to meet how all of this plays out. To date, Sony's VR parcel is expected to be the cheapest mainstream gaming option on the market ($500 for the headset, ii PS Move controllers, the PlayStation Camera, headphones, and five launch titles). If the PlayStation 4K delivers dramatically better VR performance than the PS4, nonetheless, the initial cost of entry jumps to $900 — and that's bold the PS4K comes in at the same toll as the original PS4. Granted, that'south nonetheless much cheaper than the $600 cost of Oculus Rift and the $1,000 PC you demand to run it, merely it's far out of impulse-buy territory.

Correct now we recommend taking all rumors with a grain of salt. E3 should resolve a lot of these questions and give us an official peak at what Sony is planning for the PS4K as well every bit its VR platform.