PlayStation 4

Lore & Background

According to lead architect Mark Cerny, development of Sony's fourth video game console began as early as 2008. Less than two years earlier, the PlayStation 3 had been launched after months of delays due to issues with production, placing Sony almost a year behind Microsoft's Xbox 360. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe CEO Jim Ryan said Sony wanted to avoid repeating the same mistake with PS3's successor. In designing the system, Sony worked with software developer Bungie, who offered input on the controller and how to make it better for shooting games. In 2012, Sony began shipping development kits to game developers, consisting of a modified PC running the AMD Accelerated Processing Unit chipset; these development kits were known as "Orbis".

Sony officially announced the PlayStation 4 at PlayStation Meeting 2013 in New York City on February 20, 2013, revealing details about the console's hardware and discussing new features. The design of the console was unveiled in June at E3 2013. Sony took advantage of problems that Microsoft had been having with their positioning of their newly announced Xbox One, which included its higher price point ($499 in North America) and strict regulations on how users could share game media. Besides its lower price point, Sony focused on the ease one would have in sharing media with the PS4. The console was released on November 15, 2013, in the United States and Canada, followed by further releases on November 29, 2013. The PS4 was released in Japan at ¥39,980 on February 22, 2014.

In September 2016, the console was refreshed with a new, smaller revision popularly referred to as the "Slim" model, as well as a high-end version called the PlayStation 4 Pro, which features an upgraded GPU and a higher CPU clock rate to support enhanced performance and 4K resolution in supported games. Following the launch of the PlayStation 5 in November 2020, Sony discontinued production in Japan of all but the 500 GB Slim model of the PlayStation 4 on January 5, 2021, with the standard PS4 and PS4 Pro still being produced for western markets. Due to a global chip shortage that lasted from 2020 to 2023, Sony continued PlayStation 4 production to help offset PlayStation 5 shortage and assure deals with component providers.

Reader's Guide

The PlayStation 4 was released to critical acclaim, with critics praising Sony for acknowledging its consumers' needs, embracing independent game development, and for not imposing the restrictive digital rights management schemes like those originally announced by Microsoft for the Xbox One. Critics and third-party studios, before its launch, also praised the capabilities of the PlayStation 4 in comparison to its competitors. Heightened demand also helped Sony top global console sales. By October 2019, PS4 had become the second best-selling PlayStation console of all time, behind the PlayStation 2. Its successor, the PlayStation 5, was released in November 2020. In May 2018, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO John Kodera stated that the PlayStation 4 was heading into the end of its lifecycle and that the company was anticipating decreasing year-over-year hardware sales. He explained that Sony would be countering the expected decline by focusing on strengthening user engagement, including continued investments into new first-party games and other online services for PS4. The console's technology is similar to hardware found in modern personal computers, designed to make it easier and less expensive for game studios to develop games for the PS4. The system's GDDR5 memory is capable of running at a maximum clock frequency of 2.75 GHz (5500 MT/s) and has a maximum memory bandwidth of 176 GB/s. The console contains 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, 16 times the amount of RAM found in the PS3, and is expected to give the console considerable longevity.

Did You Know?

• The PS4 uses an APU from AMD built upon the x86-64 architecture, moving away from the Cell microarchitecture of the PS3.
• The console's development kits were known as "Orbis" and consisted of a modified PC running the AMD APU chipset.
• Sony worked with software developer Bungie on the controller design to improve it for shooting games.
• The PS4 Pro features an upgraded GPU and higher CPU clock rate to support enhanced performance and 4K resolution.