With the PS5 dated, Sony's upcoming PS4 releases are put in an awkward position

Sony has joined Microsoft in announcing that their next-generation console will be launching during the holiday season in 2020. While the PS5 date estimate was expected, making it official is still a big deal. The focus and hype is now on late next year rather than the current batch of upcoming PS4 releases.

Considering how many games Sony has still releasing on its current home console, that is a bigger issue than one would expect.

[Abash]

No way in hell I'm waiting to play any of the upcoming big PS4 exclusive games

[Kingthrash360]

Tlou launched on the ps4 6 months before the ps4....it did just fine. DS got a year tlou 2 got 8 months...still dont know the date for ghost...but like Abash said above I'm not gunna wait into play it.

[ClayRules2012]

Yeah, TLoU did just fine, and the sequel will do just fine on the PS4 as well. I’m right there with you. Even if it looks a great deal better on PS5 4K/HDR 60fps I still wouldn’t wait. I’d be playing it on my PS4 February 21st 2020. I couldn’t wait any longer and I will not take the chance of the game being spoiled for me.

[DarXyde]

For The Last of Us, one big difference now though is the knowledge that it was remastered.

I'm sure it'll do fine on PS4, but I think some people will hold out with the expectation of a remaster, which may or may not happen because PS5 is backwards compatible.

I'll get it on PS4 because I hate people and I am sure waiting is asking for someone to spill it.

[ilikestuff]

I’m sure I’m in the minority, I’m waiting on last of us part 2 for about a year to see if there is a remaster, I’m sure someone will spoil the story for me but they can’t spoil the gameplay

[nucky64]

me either. i'd really like it if sony would give us a release date on GoT.

[RedDevils]

I will be buying to copies for ps4 and PS5 lol

[Shadowsteal]

PS5 will be backwards compatible.

[CurbStompin]

Two*

[AsunaYuukiTheFlash]

@Shadowsteal I'm doing the same just to show support to the developer. Ellie edition and standard.

[nitus10]

Since the PS5 uses the same architecture as the PS4 it "may" be possible that a PS5 game can be played on the PS4 (this occurs in PC gaming) although I would assume that the performance compared to how it would run on the PS5 would be reduced.

As an example, there are many PS4 games (equally with the XBox1 slim and pro) that do support HDR and 4K.however if you have a decent HDR 4K monitor/TV then even though your console may not support 4K you can still get to experience what HDR will do to an upscaled 4K picture.

Note: The original XBox1 does not support HDR.

[rainslacker]

The original TLOU sold great on the PS3, despite the PS4 being less than 6 months from release, and everyone reasonably assuming that it was going to get a cross gen port.

Even GT6 did pretty decent after the release of the PS4....although it was less than other GT games....likely due to people having moved to PS4. Honestly, GT6 not getting a cross gen port was a bad move by Sony, as it would have sold. But I think Sony wanted to push Driveclub as it was supposed to release at launch of the PS4.

Articles like this like to ignore historical examples which directly counter the arguments that they make.

[Muzikguy]

This article is making a bigger issue out of nothing. Should Sony be like Microsoft and abandon its current system to hold out for next gen? Of course not. Sony knows what they're doing.

[neutralgamer1992]

i am sure sony will make sure at launch all their big games are BC with ps5(so don't expect remastered releases)

[deno]

I don't even purchase consoles upon release, I wait for the 2nd models which are more reliable and powerful. I learned my lesson well from previous launches.

[ziggurcat]

Moot. It'll have PS4 BC.

[IMissJimRyan]

More than that. I believe the author of the article has in mind the way Nintendo manages the life cycle of its consoles.

In the case of Nintendo there is support in the first two thirds of the life of the device and then almost all the effort goes to the platform that will be launched two or three years ahead.

Sony tends to have a slightly lower first third as it has robust third party support and then the final two thirds are stellar, with mature studios, technologies and narratives.

PS4 is just repeating Sony cycle.

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

ms does the same - They should go th Sony route and have lositive momentum going into a new gen.

ms have even announced Halo : infinite for xbox one and Scarlett. It's like they don't want you to buy their new console.

[P_Bomb]

PS4 launched in 2013 right? Lest we forget the exclusives PS3 dropped that same year:

God of War: Ascension
The Last of Us
Gran Turismo 6
MLB 13 The Show
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Beyond: Two Souls
Dragons Crown
The Puppeteer

I bought 7 of those. Platinumed 4. Heck, 2 years later I bought Yakuza 5.

All this equals triple the drop that concerns TC, nevermind a little title called Grand Theft Auto V that came out that Sept. There was no fallout. PS4 sold out for months without me. If you build it they will come.

[RosweeSon]

Exactly day1

[Nyxus]

There's likely at least a year between Death Stranding and the PS5. The Last of Us Part II comes out in February, months before the release of the PS5, and Ghost of Tsushima likely somewhere in the second half of 2020. I don't see the problem.

[savedsynner]

Do we know the genre of Death Stranding other than hiking simulator? Love Kojima but they me have given him a bit too much freedom here.

[Nyxus]

There's plenty of info on the game, just look around online.

[-Foxtrot]

Remember when Sony supported the PS3 with all sorts of titles the year before the PS4 and leading to it's release...pepperidge farm remembers

[Knushwood Butt]

GT6 for one.

[purple101]

Gt7 too, granturismo that is.

[rainslacker]

I remember. Like one of the greatest games ever made coming out less than 6 months before the next gen console.

Good times.

[isarai]

How so? They'll release well before the PS5, and if not they will work on the PS5. So no they're not really

[Mopedgames]

How is having a strong line-up of games from begging to end a bad thing? If anything it just reassures people that Sony won't abandon it's owners halfway though the gen like Microsoft did three gens in a row.

[CP_Company]

how so? what kind of market research did you did before writing this nonsense? or any other research? or you just woke up one morning and began to think: what kind of stupid article can i write?

[jznrpg]

Not really . Most will buy it on PS4 . Early adopters will either wait Or play it on both? I probably will do both . They won’t pull a MS and drop no games the last year to pad Next gen launch .

[Platformgamer]

why? i'm glad that ps4 is far from being dead honestly, before i buy a ps5 there're a lot of ps4 games in my backlog.
and no, i don't care about backward compatibility, if i buy a ps5 is for playing ps5 games, if i want to play ps4 games i turn on the ps4, never trade in consoles just to pay slightly less the next one, NEVER.

[JonTheGod]

Why wouldn't you want 1 box to play all PlayStation games?? That shizzle is the dream! One box instead of 4!

[WickedLester]

Just how many gamers out there do you honestly think have 4 different generations of PlayStations sitting under their TV's? I guarantee you it's less than 1%.

[Platformgamer]

because i like to possess every console i like, the older ones are exposed as relics, the newer are plugged.

[JonTheGod]

@WickedLester I currently have a PS4, PS3, Wii, and an Xbox One S plugged in.

My PS2 and Xbox are boxed up because of (a) lack of space under the TV, (b) lack of easy access to wired controller storage (all current drawers full of controllers for those consoles already set up), and (c) I've been spoilt by the pause/resume functionality of PS4 that has left me grumpy towards older consoles that make me reboot a game instead of playing in seconds. 😂

[Kumakai]

I think the timing of releases so close to the launch of the ps5 is off. For example TLOU2 might a well be a ps5 launch title, so they can just crank up the experience more and take advantage of the new hardware for a better experience out of the gate. Have a scaled down version for the ps4 for the people not early adopting. Same w/ Ghost. The game will just be better on ps5 and since they are launching all so close to each other it will be a bummer to not have them ps5 enhanced

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

Any title will be better on PS5, that's a given. I'd go with ramp up as opposed to scale back.

[rainslacker]

Game was designed around the PS4 architecture. All they'd really end up doing is having better graphics, and maybe better frame rate. Game will probably be one of the best looking games this gen, so from a business perspective, it makes more sense to sell the game to the 100+ million PS4 customers out there. The original TLOU sold really well on the PS3, and it came out less than 6 months before the PS4's release. They sold a lot more again when they did the remaster. Hopefully, with the BC, we'll not have to buy the game twice, and maybe a texture pack upgrade or something.

[The Wood]

Nah bro. . Sony support their consoles all the way till the end of a gen. No laziness or front loading by pulling games from one gen to pad the start of next as a lure. Cross gen would be their only practice that appease both new and old gen.

[goldwyncq]

Why on earth would they put those games as PS5 exclusives when most of their fanbase is still on the PS4?

[phoenixwing]

doom and gloom article. Nobody cried foul when they released swan song ps3 games during the ps4 early years. Also everyone who owns a playstation appreciates that sony don't just give up on their systems like the competition does. they release swan songs of epic proportions to remind you why owning the system is so great. Definitely better than trying to force feed fans into a new gen when they don't want to.

[Silly gameAr]

Kind of a silly thing to be concerned about.

[JEECE]

It's not going to hurt games like TLOU 2, which is big enough to be immune, and has a significant buffer period anyway. I could see it hurting a PS4 exclusive that comes out post-PS5 launch. BC should mitigate that effect some, but people still aren't going be as excited for an older system's game, even if they can still play it.

God of War 2 is probably the best argument against this impact, but we have to remember that it came out on PS2 well before PS3 really took off (and at that time all PS3s had BC).

[AnnaDea]

no, just shut up take my money. I buy games fore most and then the console. I do want the playstation 5 but do you really think people will miss out one of the most sought after game titles for the playstation 4 because we know the release date for their upcoming console? XD

No.

Sane people will buy the games they want and then the console.

That's why we bought the console in the first place, lmao.

[Magog]

Not really considering how many people are happy to wait years to pick up a new console and early adopters will he buying those games no matter what anyway.

[GamingSinceForever]

What a stupid article. There are more than 100 million PS4s in the wild. If anything it would be the PS5 launch that is in an awkward position but even that isn’t true.

[GaboonViper]

Meanwhile LOU2 breaks PS4 pre orders, another garbage article.

[sprinterboy]

Everyone's gonna replay the games anyway on ps5 as virtually every gamer on consoles hasn't got there 4k tv yet.
Why would you wait until ps5 when everyone has 1080p tvs and base models anyway.

[ramiuk1]

what a load of crap

[GaboonViper]

I know right, if pre orders for LOU2 were low this article might have a point, but LOU2 has broken ALL PS4 pre orders, as you say a load of crap, surprised it isn't a Forbes article.

[fatbastard11]

You’re overthinking it

[sushimama]

No they're NOT. People are going to buy them. When PS5 comes out, they will get the inevitable next-gen upgrade, and more people will buy them. SHUT UP with the fake concern. YOu're just desperate for something... ANYTHING to write about, so you make up fake talking points to write a BS article.

[InKnight7s]

So I should have waited for Ps4 to play Last of Us back then? And I shall wait for PS5 to play my dream VII remake? For what? Graphics? But I thought that buying a console at release date is a bad idea!!!

[Elda]

No they're not PS has always put exclusives out on their consoles at the end of their lifecycles,Sony supports their consoles wholeheartedly.

[ChickenOfTheCaveMan]

Maybe for the game somebody might not as hyped and can wait, but let's Last of Us Part 2, no way I'm waiting for a PS5 remaster of something like that, day 1. That's like saying that knowing movies will be on digital 4-5 months after release in theater put them in an awkward position, not really.

[SublimeStylee2]

I bet anything more recent Ps4 exclusives will be ps5 enhanced day one, and TLOU2,Ghost, Death, are all ready with that in mind, GTA,Rdr2 just my speculation but no worries here.

[Thundercat77]

"With the PS5 dated, Sony's upcoming PS4 releases are put in an awkward position"

Only someone who hasn't followed Sony all this past generations could say something like that.

Sony always support their previous generations. They don't cut them off. PS5 will have PS4 BC. The Last of Us released at the end of the PS3 life cycle and it became "the game of the generation"

This article is the only one on an awkward position.

[RosweeSon]

With BC from day1 and not an after thought mid gen it’s really not.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

They had the balls to release God of War II on PS2 AFTER PS3 came out. This is nothing new. Hell, if GTA V has proven anything, it's that a good game will sell ridiculous amounts of copies on whatever it's available for.

[BehindTheRows]

Um...

- Final Fantasy IX and Dragon Quest VII released for the PS1 in 2000 (these were massive franchises on the system, mind you)

- Final Fantasy XII released in 2006

- TLOU released in 2013 (a franchise which now has FAR more selling power than FF)

The concern does not compute.

[SixEye]

Been thinking about this whn I heard about TLOU2 release date and the ps5, my quest is would there be anything difference between the Ps5 and ps4 version becuase if the ps5 version looks, runs better and is improved then why not wait for the ps5 and then again would the ps5 be compatible with ps4 games sony says yes but look at the ps4 all compatible games are streamed via PSNow, I have my doubts with Sony ps5 atm.

[frostypants]

This happens every gen. It is never a problem. Low effort article.

[MetalGearAlex]

No there not. Ps5 is backwards compatible. And can only enhance the game whether thru an update or the system itself.

[ShadowWolf712]

Not at all, they're gonna be backwards compatible. Even if people pick up a PS5 they can, and will likely, pick up these games.

[TGGJustin]

Another stupid game journalist article trying to spell doom for something related to Sony. I don't seem to remember The Last of Us suffering just because we knew the PS4 would be out five months later. Find something worthwhile to write about in your spare time.

[JonTheGod]

I am indeed planning on waiting for PS5 for all upcoming PS4 exclusives. Don't know whether PS5 will get separate remastered releases or just patch the PS4 version, but I'll still be waiting so I can play the definitive true vision.

[derek]

I will play TLOU 2, FF7, DS, when they are released. When the PS5 arrives I will want to play games designed around its capabilities not ps4 games.

[Atomicjuicer]

So should they release a version of the game that won’t play on PS4 but that has PS5 benefits? Should it work on pro? When should it come out?

And are your answers just for you or do they suit everyone?

[LoveSpuds]

Plenty of others have pointed out that Sony have a proven track record of releasing fantastic games right up to the launch of their next generation console so I won't make that point again, however, I would also point out to the author of this piece that if he honestly thinks Sony wouldn't be determined to exploit an install base of 100+ million he is kidding himself.

Sony know the quality of their exclusives and they know they will sell bucket loads on PS4 as well as PS5, whether its remastered versions or patches to improve on the performance of the original release.

[FyBy]

It depends. Probably you can play all of them on PS5. Plus we dont know, if PS5 versions of same game can be somehow upgraded from PS4 versions or if you have to buy them separately. This is maybe only my dream, but it would be nice if you buy Last of US for PS4, continue play on PS5 and you got also full PS5 version where you can continue on. What you think?

[RaidenBlack]

There will always be better version of a game.

[SinisterKieran]

not really

[Exvalos]

There won't be a "seperate" ps5 or 4 version for cross gen games is my guess, it will be like the pro and vanilla. A simple patch can get you the better frames and resolution, ray trace support etc...

[yomfweeee]

Ignoring BC for argument's sake... this is simple math. There will hardly be any PS5 out there compared to PS4. There will be around 115 million PS4 consoles come PS5 release date. If PS5 sells similar to PS4, it will only sell 4-5 million by the end of 2020.

You think no one is going to buy these games because of PS5?

[tontontam0]

Announce full BC support and promise ps5 enhancement patch for these games, problem solved.

[OpenGL]

I don't think it's a problem, the PS5 will also play these games and this much late support for the PS4 will just make people more confident in Sony's willingness to support a console long term.

[carcarias]

What crap.

The idea that focus and hype on upcoming exclusives (games that people will be able to actually play and enjoy) will suddenly dissipate and be aimed only at an as yet unreleased console is absurd.

It's not like there's a finite amount of gaming excitement and people have to choose one or the other; they can be excited about both.

Pah, 'bigger issue than one would expect', 'awkward position' - what a load of bollocks. Another example of an article trying to create some kind of mini-drama out of nothing.

Why don't they try and write something positive, thoughtful and/or interesting about games they've played recently instead? Why does it have to be something like, 'PS5 release date is now known but that's not a good thing'. Not that I should be surprised, Gaming Revolution is just another of 'those sites'.

[AK91]

Games Journalists once again showing their idiocy and how out of touch they are with gaming.

[Starman69]

Play them twice. I usually do anyways 😊

[ufo8mycat]

“The focus and hype is now on late next year rather than the current batch of upcoming PS4 releases”

Couldn’t be more wrong. I am looking forward to the PS5 as much as anybody, but what truly matters in the end is games!
The Last Of Us Part 2, Cyberpunk, FF7 Remake. I highly doubt the PS5 launch lineup is going to be better then that.

As much as I am excited for PS5, I’m more excited for those games.

[BadElf]

Out of the 60million + ps4 users....I think they'll be fine....

Happens every gen

[gold_drake]

i feel like this is the case with every new console generation.

[OzzY-waZZy]

IDC.. I just want the ps5 already. It's time. Can't wait for the leap in physics, ai, and no load times. The rest is gravy.

[CertifiedGamer]

How is this putting exclusives in an awkward position. They can choose to make it on PS5 which currently has not launched or sold any consoles sold or they can release exclusives on the console that has sold 100 million. I think the choice is obvious.

[Jayszen]

Will not make any difference! Before the PS4 came out, we had the original TLOU and GTA 5. The first is a first party game and the latter is a multi-platform title and yet both sold by the bucket-load when they were released for the PS4! With TLOU 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Sony may well release new remastered versions for PS5 or it may decide to release an update for each game. I suspect this will depend on how well the new console has done generally and how it is coping with its rival.

[Mr_Luke]

No, not really...

[The7Reaper]

Maybe Ghost of Tsushima but TLoU and Death Stranding arent in an awkward position at all, DS is releasing November basically a year from PS5 and TLoU in February which is still 9+ months from the PS5 release. Hell, the first TLoU game released for PS3 like 6 months before PS4 and did perfectly fine.

[PhoenixUp]

By the time PS5 releases PS4 will have sold over 110 million units. You seriously think all of them will abandon their current console just because a next gen system released?

[savedsynner]

Unless there is a GotY in the PS5 (near)launch lineup, it's usually a good idea to wait about 1 year after a new console release. Allow the price to come down a bit, enjoy the last gen gems that are still coming out. Basically my MO is wait until a game comes out you absolutely must play and can only do so on next gen.

For the PS4, it was Shadow of Mordor.

[nucky64]

not awkward for me - i'm getting LoU2 and GoT as soon as i can.