MatrixMan.EXE
Member
sony's history in the market is them wanting to look the best. they want the biggest, most cinematic things. they helped make an environment where fmv was a marketable term, allowed for voice acting to expand beyond voice clips in major titles, and started to increase value in what video game consoles were starting with the dvd player in the ps2. sony's never had the weakest platform of their generation or versus their competition. sony's method of revealing their consoles is how they talk about the emotion engine, cell, or 8gb gddr5 as ways to get people excited about power. psp played ps2-like games on the go, and ps vita played ps3-like games on the go. these were supposed to pull handheld gaming out of a sort of 'ghetto' (not my words), as they saw it.
it's possible that microsoft was looking to rebrand everything and have something ready even this year considering what's going on with uwp. sony's ps4k might have been a reaction to that, prompting microsoft to delay the new xbox so that it's a complete refresh. combined with the nx rumored to make the ps4 seem outdated, sony might have wanted to at least stay part of the conversation rather than being relegated to the 'weakest', especially if xbox and nx started looking like a new generation while sony was stuck in the previous one.
i think their hand was forced, a little by their own hubris and a little out of competition.
While I think it goes without saying that Sony is watching the competition, the decision to release a PS4k was more than likely made before even the OG PS4 was released. I don't think it has anything to do with hubris or having your hand forced by the competition. The writing was on the wall a long time ago.
Especially when you consider how long PSVR has been in the works. The main point of PS4K looks to be to bolster the VR experience, which Sony is banking on big time. If Nintendo wasn't releasing NX, this thing would still be coming out.