As odd as it sounds, Sony and Microsoft always seem to take measures when Nintendo is about to pull a move like a new generation. This happened before when rumors about a Nintendo console using a second screen were florating around for a long time: "coincidentally", Microsoft announced the smartglass on the same year Wii U launched and Sony introduced the PS Vita as a second screen to PS4 not much later.
Now you may think "the Wii U is a failure, why would they bother?". Well, because by the time it launched, no one knew it would flop that hard... there was always the possibility of it becoming a modest success, like the Xbox One these days, for example.
So I don't know if they rushed/created the PS4k to counter NX specifically, but I'm pretty sure both Sony and Microsoft are watching Nintendo very closely. Just the other day Phil Spencer said they learned the hard way not to doubt Nintendo when Wii launched.
Bet with Teeqoz for 2 weeks of avatar and sig control that Super Mario Odyssey would ship more than 7m on its first 2 months. The game shipped 9.07m, so I won
