After Sony Ditches 4K Blu-ray Player for PS4 Pro, Microsoft Weighs In

Sony's decision to not include a 4K Blu-ray player for the PS4 Pro (and PS4 Slim) has been a much-discussed topic since this was confirmed earlier this month. While Microsoft is not yet ready to say if its own more powerful console, Xbox Scorpio, will include a 4K Blu-ray player, a higher-up at the company has spoken about why a 4K Blu-ray player is still important in today's world.

Asked by Eurogamer if it would be safe to say Xbox Scorpio would feature a 4K Blu-ray player, Microsoft's Albert Penello said, "We haven't announced anything specifically on that. You could assume that would be our intent, but we don't have anything specific on that."

Pressed for general details on whether or not a 4K Blu-ray player makes sense in the world today, when digital is on the rise, Penello said physical media is still important. That's part of the reason why the new Xbox One S includes a 4K Blu-ray player.

"Microsoft's point of view on this is, the story is told in the product we're shipping," he said. "We had to make those decisions long ago. So it's funny how much people think we act or react to what Sony's doing. But this decision was locked a long time ago."

The decision to include a 4K Blu-ray player in the Xbox One S came down to two main things, the first of which is Microsoft's belief in 4K.

"We don't sign up for every media format change. There has been a lot of SmartTV stuff and 3D, and they didn't really set the world on fire," he said. "I really believe in 4K and HDR. I have one myself. I thought I was going to regret it. I think it's as meaningful an upgrade as it was going from SD to HD, when you start seeing the native 4K content. And so we were just really bullish on it."

The other part of the equation is that, as mentioned, physical media remains important around the world, even if digital is indeed growing in popularity.

"When you look around the world, not everybody's at the same state when it comes to digital," he explained. "You could argue they're probably not at the same state when it comes to 4K either. But I still think there's room for physical. For the high-end enthusiast, 4K Blu-rays look amazing. And there are still going to be places in the world that won't get that streaming because of their internet connections, but might have access to physical.

"So yeah, I'm glad we made the decision. I'm a fan of 4K, thinking globally. And we have good differentiation between the PS4 slim and us," he added.

On the same day that Sony announced the PS4 Pro and PS4 Slim, Microsoft put out a tweet (below) that highlighted the fact that the Xbox One S features a 4K Blu-ray player. Penello said a tweet like this is business as usual for competing companies and that it isn't a sign of disrespect for Sony.

PlayStation president Andrew House explained why the PS4 Pro does not feature a 4K Blu-ray player. "Our feeling is that while physical media continues to be a big part of the games business, we see a trend on video towards streaming," he said. "Certainly with our user base, it's the second biggest use case for people's time on the system so we place more emphasis on that area."

The PS4 Slim and Xbox One S are available now, starting at $300. The PS4 Pro goes on sale in November, priced at $400, while Xbox Scorpio is due out in holiday 2017 for an unspecified price point. Penello declined to share anything on the console's price in Eurogamer's interview. Asked if the console would be cheaper than the PS4 Pro, he replied, "It will be an interesting discussion next time we chat!"

Microsoft has time and again referred to the Xbox Scorpio as the "most powerful console ever made" and a "premium product," so it likely won't be cheap.

Penello also recently spoke out about the PS4 Pro, saying its 4.2 teraflops of performance is "not enough to do true 4K."

"I think there are a lot of caveats they're giving customers right now around 4K," he added about the PS4 Pro. "They're talking about checkerboard rendering and up-scaling and things like that. There are just a lot of asterisks in their marketing around 4K, which is interesting because when we thought about what spec we wanted for Scorpio, we were very clear we wanted developers to take their Xbox One engines and render them in native, true 4K.