One of the key selling points of Sony's upcoming PS4 Pro is its native 4K support. Unfortunately, it looks like this support is in name more than in function as Sony has confirmed that the console won't support 4K Blu-ray discs and that the "majority of its games" will be upscalled to run at 4K resolution.
PlayStation 4 Pro does support 4K movie playback, but only for digitally downloaded videos as its Blu-ray drive isn't physically able to read 4K Blu-ray discs. As for 4K games, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Andrew House admitted that "the majority will be upscaled - at least based on the game portfolio I have seen to date."
When asked if it might be misleading to promote PS4 Pro as a 4K console given that customers won't have true 4K gaming experience when most titles are upscaled, he disagreed.
"No, I don't think so.
I think that whatever the term is, it's a question of whether people see a demonstrable difference in the game experience or not, rather than the term we use to apply to it.
I think that's what people are looking for and they'll make their judgement as to whether that's working for them or not."
There is a general consensus that PlayStation 4 is slightly more powerful than Xbox One, but it seems that this might be reversed for their upcoming evolutions. Microsoft has already confirmed that Project Scorpio will support 4K Blu-ray disc playback. Additionally, the company promised that all first party games released around Scorpio's launch time frame will render natively at 4K. Microsoft is also working with third party developers to make sure that some of their titles would support that resolution natively.
The PlayStation 4 Pro launches in November 2016 for $399 while Project Scorpio will launch during 2017 holiday season.
VIA:
Digital Spy.
USA Today.