It may finally be time for PlayStation 4 users to upgrade a console generation – or two.
Genshin Impact will be ending PlayStation 4 support next year. HoYoverse explained that they are now facing limitations from hardware performance and the allowable game sizes on the platform.
GamesIndustry.Biz responded to this news with an interesting tidbit:
It was widely reported this week that Hoyoverse will discontinue PS4 support in Genshin Impact next year – but this is not an isolated move, with many other operators of major online and live service titles also eyeing up the timeline for dropping PS4 support.
Why Were They Still On PlayStation 4 Anyway?
For most of the PlayStation 5’s lifetime, there were still a lot of PlayStation gamers on the PlayStation 4. As recently as last year, Sony revealed that they still had as many players on PlayStation 4 as PlayStation 5.
There are various explanations for why this happened. For one, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S were both victims of bad timing. Their launch coincided with the start of the pandemic. Both consoles had supply issues for at least two years, but PlayStation 5 suffered just a little longer.
Sony can also blame themselves in part for this. Arguably, they did not give their customers compelling enough reasons to upgrade from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5.
Some of the first PlayStation 5 gamers were also on PlayStation 4. But after that batch of games, Sony’s first party releases slowed down considerably. They released much less PlayStation 5 games year after year compared to the PlayStation 4’s schedule.
Sony faced a harsh dilemma. Video game development in general had become more expensive and riskier. Even with their studios working as hard as they can, Sony can now expect games they greenlit at the start of the PS5 generation to release near the end of it.
And Then, There’s The Live Service Dilemma
Fortnite and PUBG ushered in an era where live service games would dominate the video game industry. Sony made a lot of money from Fortnite being on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. They made even more after they acquired some shared in Epic Games.
But these games were still a problem for Sony, because players started buying less retail price games. That includes Sony’s own games, and that led to serious pitfalls for their biggest titles.
Sony also wanted to get into live service games. In so many words, that has also not paid off for them.
Where Sony Is With The PlayStation 4 Now
Sony recently ended sales of all models of the PlayStation 4 in Japan. We know it’s only a matter of time before they stop sales and distribution of all models of the console.
The PlayStation 6 is already on the horizon. While Sony can justify continuing support for two consoles, it doesn’t make sense to try selling three console generations at the same time.
Live service games like Fortnite were scaled down to work with consoles like the PlayStation 4. In that sense, Epic Games can keep supporting PlayStation 4 gamers as long as they like. But for business purposes, the PlayStation 4 is set to lose a lot of active users very soon. It makes sense for developers in general to prepare leaving the platform.
