Does It Make Sense To Buy the PS4 Console in 2023?

The PS4 launched back in 2013 and was immediately a tremendous winner. It has a loyal army of fans, who appreciated it even more through the troubled availability of the PlayStation 5. However, years pass by, and the PS5 is now generally available.

But is it such a big leap forward in terms of technology? Are there enough PlayStation 5 games to ditch the older console?  Is the PS4 still worth buying in 2023? Let’s ponder over it together.

PlayStation 4 vs. PlayStation 5 – differences in specifications

Before answering whether it’s worth buying a PlayStation 4 today, It’s worth taking a look at some of the most interesting titles that have been announced for PS5 and won’t be available on PS4. These include Godfall, Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Forbidden West, Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart, Resident Evil Village, Returnal, Tribes of Midgar, and Dragon’s Dogma 2 featuring new vocations.

PS5 is undoubtedly a ground-breaking device – Sony’s most robust and high-speed console. Just take a quick glance at the manufacturer’s console specifications below to get an idea of this.

Besides a significantly faster processor based on new technology, the PS5 gains a huge advantage over its predecessors when comparing graphics chips. At this point, it might be worth explaining what the mysterious Teraflops appearing next to the GPU specifications are. Simply put, Teraflops refers to the number of floating point operations that a console can perform in one second. From comparing the GPUs of these consoles, it can be concluded that the PS5’s GPU is around 2.5 times more powerful than the PS4 Pro and as much as 8 times more powerful than the regular PS4, and faster and more efficient.

Sony’s new console also wins the duel on the amount of RAM and its speed – the PS5 has 2 times more RAM than the PS4 and PS4 Pro. Another big advantage of the PS5 is the extremely fast SSD, which will greatly reduce the loading time of games, as well as eliminate the problem of switching between locations during gameplay. The PS5 also has a much better optical drive (UHD Blu-ray), but of course, you can also get the Digital edition, meaning without a drive, on the market.

The PS5 supports 8k resolution, but this does not at all mean that it will be possible to play games at this resolution in the coming years – it is rather a very distant vision of the future. Sony’s new console supports a refresh rate of 120Hz, which is undoubtedly a big plus, as you can already get many TVs on the market that support 4k resolution and higher refresh rates.

PlayStation 4 vs. PlayStation 5 – games

PS4’s owners are sure to have a sizeable library of games on disc or in their PSN account that they don’t want to lose when they switch to the new hardware. However, Sony’s new console will have backward compatibility, meaning that the vast majority of PS4 titles will be playable on it.

What about new games? Unfortunately, Sony has announced that new games will not be compatible with the PS4. It’s worth taking a look at some of the most interesting titles that have been announced for PS5 and won’t be available on PS, these include Godfall, Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Forbidden West, Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart, Resident Evil Village, Returnal, and Tribes of Midgar.

So if you want to play the latest games then the PlayStation 4 is unlikely to appeal to you, especially as there are a lot of new releases coming in 2023. Not least because PS4 games run faster on the PS5, thanks to the built-in SSD. It’s good to remember, though, that the PS5 is limited to 825 GB of storage, so PS4 games will grow quickly – if you need more space on the PS5, you can run PS4 games using an external USB drive or M.2 SSD, but that’s an extra cost.

PlayStation 4 vs. PlayStation 5 – PS4 controller design

If we’re being honest, then the predesigned PS4 pads, are not much different in technical terms from any predesigned PlayStation 5 controller. The PS4 controller design is a little clunkier. The DualShock 4 controller, which is an essential PlayStation 4 accessory, is compatible with the PS5. You can plug it into Sony’s latest console and use it in the same way as on the previous generation’s hardware. However, unlike the DualSense pad, it will not work with every game. On top of that, each predesigned PS5 controller comes with a convenient microphone button. But other than that, it plays just as well on predesigned PS4 pads as it does on those for the latest generation console.

Does it make sense to buy a PS4 console in 2023?

Frankly, not really, unless you plan to play older games all the time, of which the PS4 has a sizeable collection. Otherwise, it’s better to wait a bit and save up to buy a next-generation console and enjoy the full possibilities Sony offers us