Sony’s PlayStation 4 game console has provided no less technological advancement than its predecessor PS3 relative to PS2, and has also become the second best-selling Sony console. What was the reason for its success, how did the Japanese choose AMD x86, and why did Sony’s exclusive games lose their uniqueness?
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Although PlayStation 3 was a technological breakthrough, the most powerful home computer of the time, trampling on the best AMD/Intel solutions, but the complex POWER architecture with eight threaded processors put off inexperienced developers. Writing games for the PS3 was difficult, and it was especially difficult to do it in parallel with development on PC and Xbox 360.
Sony PlayStation 4 solved this problem, as engineers agreed with AMD to develop the super-powerful eight-core AMD x86-64 Jaguar APU. Game developers were the first to benefit from this, as it became easier to transfer games from console to PC or vice versa (which is almost never the case). The unified x86 architecture for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC has brought video game development to a whole new level (lighter).
The PlayStation 4’s GPU is based on the AMD GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture with 18 processing units and a frequency of 800 MHz, providing a theoretical performance of 1.84 teraflops, and the 8-core processor handles games better than its PC counterparts. For example, the AMD FX-8350 on Windows OS is nowhere near as smooth as the PS4, although it is superior to the PS4 APU in terms of performance.
In practice, most gaming PCs could not compete with the PS4 in terms of stability and image quality, although they could have much better «and» numbers in the specs table. In fairness, it is worth noting that computers were no longer as weak as they were in the days of PS3, PS2, and PS1, so two or three years after the console’s release, PCs were at least somewhat (still insufficient) competitive, which did not prevent PS4 from selling well.
A top gaming PC of the same age as the AMD FX-8350 can’t cope (drops of up to 5 FPS) with games that run perfectly smoothly on the PS4:
The main advantage over PC was GDDR5 memory, which is as much as 8 GB. It provided data transfer speeds of up to 176 GB/s and was capable of accommodating high-quality textures, unlike the flagship GPUs of the time with 2-3 GB of VRAM. The top graphics cards of the PS4’s age quickly became outdated and no longer relevant, and the game console is still capable of playing popular AAA video games, some at 60 FPS.
There were three main versions of the PS4:
It is also the first Sony console to support VR. A relatively inexpensive headset, good optimization, and stable software have provided a unique user experience for millions of gamers. On the other hand, virtual reality is developing very slowly on PCs and has not yet gained popularity.
The Sony PlayStation 4 was increasingly sold with games (bundles), and some versions had unique themed designs to match the game. Despite the arrival of PS5 in 2020, PS4 is more alive than ever. Many games are still being released on this platform, and it seems that the end of the PlayStation 4 life cycle will not come soon.
Like its predecessors, the Sony PlayStation 4 had excellent multimedia capabilities. The console could replace a set-top box, which at that time did not have good functionality. The PS4 is like a full-fledged computer with a focus on casual interaction because it has the whole set of multimedia programs, but it is easier to install and use them than on a PC.
The emphasis is on social interaction, watching movies online or from discs, online broadcasts, a fast and convenient service for sharing images, audio chat, and the Share Play function for cooperative play (even if they did not own a licensed copy of the game).
The console also supported popular multimedia services such as Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, YouTube, Twitch, and others, making it not only a gaming console but also a multimedia center. PS4 had everything its predecessor had and more.
Another innovation was the Remote Play feature, which allowed you to play games on the PS Vita or other devices connected to the same network as the PS4. It’s very convenient when a student’s parents turn on the TV, and the student goes to play his favorite game on his smartphone in the next room. The main thing is that the console remains on, and the quality of the local network allows you to play with low latency.
Sony PlayStation has always been loved not only for its games, and the PS4 did not disappoint in this regard, becoming three heads above any PC with an outdated DVD-R drive and no Wi-Fi (how much home computers 2013 had Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a Blu-ray drive?)
Sony also introduced a new wireless controller, the DualShock 4, which featured improved analog sticks, an integrated touchpad, a «Share» button for easy sharing of game moments on social networks, and light indication. Undoubtedly, the DS4 has become one of the best gamepads in history, although the updated Xbox One is also great.
After a comfortable game on the PlayStation 4 on the couch in front of a big TV, I didn’t want to go back to the unhappy computer gaming in front of a monitor with a keyboard and mouse — the Sony DualShock 4 controller has proven to be a great success. By the way, it is perfectly compatible with almost all PC games — only very old games may have nuances with the correct button detection.
The main reason for the loss of exclusivity was the unified x86 architecture and the rapid growth of PC hardware performance. If in 2006, a home PC was incredibly weak compared to productive consoles, like a calculator, then closer to 2015-2020, everything changed, and now top PCs allow you to play any console game, even those that are crookedly optimized.
Ported Sony video games have always run worse on PC than on the original system:
The cheap and fast porting of video games from Sony PlayStation 4 proved to be profitable, as the company ended up selling an already successful game for the second time to those who had been waiting for it for several years by «watching it on YouTube. The PC community gladly accepts several years’ worth of «leftovers from the console community and pays for ported exclusives with tears of joy.
As it turned out, making games exclusively for PS4 is unprofitable, and porting AAA titles doesn’t take too long. Due to the rush, PC users often received terrible optimization, poor performance, bugs, crashes, and texture issues, especially at release, but this did not stop them, because undemanding players were happy with this.
Thus, one by one, Sony PlayStation exclusive projects lost their uniqueness and significance for fans, even if a few years after their release on the original platform. This scheme suits everyone, especially developers because it’s a great opportunity to once again «cut» PC owners with minimal porting costs.
There are very few true exclusives left, but it is possible that one day computer owners will be able to buy a conditional Bloodborne, which they have been drooling over for years while watching walkthrough videos. Commerce will definitely put everything in its place and in one day completely destroy the exclusivity of games for the sake of financial gain, which is inevitable.
Sales of the PlayStation 4 have reached about 117 million units worldwide, making it one of the most popular consoles in history (the PS2 failed to break the record). It is critical that the Japanese console began its expansion in Europe, where more than 55 million units were sold, 53.6 million in the United States, and about 23 million in Japan.
Thanks to such high sales, the PS4 has far outpaced its rival Xbox One and become one of Sony’s most successful consoles. Its popularity has remained unwavering, even after the release of the PlayStation 5 in 2020. PS4 is still a relevant gaming platform and will remain so for a long time.
The Sony PlayStation 4 has become another significant step in the development of the gaming industry, setting new performance standards, bringing new networking capabilities, showing the world mass VR and successfully implementing social features.
This is another victory for Sony over Windows PC, another significant step in the development of video games, another step that will eventually lead to a certain level of stagnation, as it became harder and harder to surprise players with each new generation of consoles.
In the next article, we will talk about the Sony PlayStation 5, its main problems, and the potential of the latest PS5 Pro, which was not very positively received by fans of numbers in the specification table.
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