The 8GB GDDR5 memory packed into Sony’s PlayStation 4 is a feature that both developers and consumers can easily get behind, but the next-generation console wasn’t always designed with that much power in mind. Instead, the initial plan was for the PS4 to ship with just 4GB, Sony confirmed during a presentation at the 2013 Tokyo Game Show this week.
President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, explained to GameSpot exactly why the memory was upgraded before anything became official.
"And because we chose expensive memory…we really liked the performance, but it's pricy, right? So going to 8GB was a bit of a business decision," Yoshida said. "But we were able to make that decision because of a lot of the feedback from developers."
The Xbox One will also include 8GB of memory, but Microsoft’s console will launch with a price tag $100 greater than Sony’s offering. The current rumors point to the PS4 as being the more powerful of the two machines, but Microsoft contests that nothing really looks better on the market than games like Forza 5 and Ryse: Son of Rome.
The real test will come when both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One hit retailers this November.
