- This is the story of every PS4 ever made. Now, the PlayStation 4 was an incredibly successful console, but there's a lot more to this story than meets the eye. The PlayStation 4 is fascinating, not just because it's one of the most successful gaming consoles ever made, although over 117 million units sold, it definitely is.
One of the things that makes the PS4 unique is how it completely transformed PlayStation's approach to console design. After the ambitious but nearly disastrous PS3 Sony, well, they kind of had to rethink everything. But also for me, the PS4, it holds a little bit more of a personal attachment. This was the first generation that I was able to cover from start to finish.
From being in the room for that legendary E3 announcement, to getting my hands on the DualShock 4 early, all the way through to buying one of the very last PS4s ever made. To understand the PS4, we really need to talk about the elephant in the room, the PlayStation 3. Now, technically Sony could claim that they outsold the Xbox 360, but it was by the absolute thinnest of margins and at tremendous cost.
Picture this, Sony had just come off the PS2, arguably the most dominant console ever made. Then they brought out the PS3, a powerful but unbelievably complicated console, that they also happen to price at $599 or about $900 accounting for inflation. By the end of the generation in 2013, the damage was staggering. Sony had burned through hundreds of millions, billions of dollars selling consoles at a massive loss. The whole of Sony was kind of approaching a crisis.
We're talking about credit rating downgrades, layoffs, and having to sell off their iconic Manhattan headquarters. And it wasn't just the PS3 either. The PlayStation Vita, which was supposed to be Sony's answer to Nintendo's 3DS was struggling to find its footing.
Well, it certainly wasn't officially dead yet. Sales were so disappointing that major retailers were already starting to scale back support. Inside Sony there was some real soul searching going on. The old PlayStation playbook of throwing massive amounts of money at bleeding edge technology had backfired kind of spectacularly. Now, if you ask me, the question at this point wasn't, how do we make the PS4 more successful? It was much more so, how do we not (censor bleep) up again this badly? Now, this context is crucial because it shaped every decision Sony made with the PS4.
They needed a win, and they needed it without betting the company. In a way, Sony's overconfidence with the PS3 ended up being the best thing that could have happened to the PS4 because It really forced them to completely rethink their approach. They couldn't just coast on being the most dominant console, because suddenly Sony were kind of the underdogs, and it was on them to take the crown back.
If you want to understand just how differently Sony approached the PS4, look no further than who was leading the charge. Ken Kutaragi, the father of PlayStation, had been the driving force behind every PlayStation up to this point. His philosophy pushed the absolute boundaries of what was possible. Screw what it cost, or how hard it would be to pull off.
This is the guy who started developing the PS2 before Sony even approved it, and the guy who championed the revolutionary but fiendishly complicated Cell processor in the PS3. But for the PS4, the reigns were handed to Mark Cerny. Now, Cerny wasn't exactly new to PlayStation. He'd been involved since the PS One days, working on games like "Crash Bandicoot," and he helped to architect the PS Vita.
But his approach couldn't have been much more different. While Kutaragi-san was all about revolutionary tech and pushing boundaries. Cerny focused on evolution and practicality. Gone was the hubris of, "We know best, and you're gonna develop for our console, and you're gonna like it, dammit." And instead was a more humble, much more collaborative mentality.
The idea that Cerny was actively engaging with the developers, understanding their frustrations with the PS3, and figuring out what they actually needed in next gen hardware proved to be an incredibly important part of this generation. You know what's fascinating about the PS4? From a pure technology perspective, it might just be the least ambitious PlayStation ever made. Now, I know that sounds bizarre given how successful it was, but hear me out.
Look at PlayStation's history. The PS One revolutionized 3D gaming and brought CD-Rom to the masses. The PS2 basically made DVD mainstream, while pushing what was possible with games.
The PS3, that thing was so powerful the US military bought thousands of them to build supercomputers. Even the PSP and Vita tried, to varying levels of success, to bring console quality gaming to handhelds. PS4, it was, well, basically just a really good PC in a box.
That's kind of exactly why it worked. No more exotic processors and custom architectures the developers needed years to figure out. No more bleeding edge technology that cost a fortune to manufacture. Sony looked at what worked, specifically what worked in gaming PCs, and just kind of made that.
A brand new partnership with AMD for the PS4 really shows this shift in thinking. Instead of another super complex Cell processor, Sony went with what's called an APU, basically combining both the CPU and graphics into a single chip. The graphics side was legitimately pretty solid for 2013.
AMD's GCN architecture was pretty much the best you could get at the time. Importantly, Sony opted for a beefier GPU than what Microsoft put in the Xbox One, which might just come up a little bit later. The CPU side was, shall we say, a bit more modest? Sure having eight cores sounds impressive, when at the time most PCs only had four, but these were AMD's wimpy Jaguar cores, which originally meant for budget laptops. But since Sony had committed to going with AMD, it simply was a tradeoff that they had to live with. Now, there was one much more major tradeoff though. Backwards compatibility was completely off the table.
The PS4's totally different architecture meant it couldn't run PS3 games at all, and Sony didn't even try to support PS One or PS2 games like earlier PlayStations had. Although yes, technically toward the end of the PS4 lifecycle, they did release a couple of PS2 classics, but my point stands. But you know what? These compromises, they, I would argue, were ultimately what Sony needed.
The PS3 was powerful but difficult to develop for. In stark contrast, working with the PS4 was far easier than not only the PS3, but even a lot of gaming PCs. In February, 2013, Sony revealed the PlayStation 4 at an event in New York City. Now, the gaming world was in a very different place than it was back when the PS3 had launched. Mobile gaming was exploding.
Nintendo had stumbled out of the gate with the Wii U, and Microsoft was about to, well, we'll get to that disaster in a minute. The reveal itself though was fascinating. Instead of leading with raw specs or trying to pitch the PS4 as a multimedia powerhouse like the PS3 was, Sony focused almost entirely on games and the experience of playing them.
They showed off next gen titles, like "Killzone: Shadow Fall," and "Watchdogs" that definitely looked like a solid step up from the PS3. But for me, the real star of the show wasn't graphics or frame rates. It was the controller. Now, this might sound strange to anyone who wasn't around for the PS3 era. But you've gotta understand, Sony had basically been shipping the same controller since 1994.
Now, sure, they had added analog sticks, and rumble, and even that weird Sixaxis motion control. But at its core, the design hadn't really evolved. Meanwhile, Microsoft had absolutely nailed it with the Xbox 360 controller, to the point where even diehard PlayStation fans would often admit that it was just a straight up better controller.
Sony knew they needed more than just better graphics this time around. That's where an unlikely partnership came in. They tacked Bungie, the creators of "Halo," to help design the DualShock 4. The result was the biggest redesign in PlayStation controller history. The DualShock 4 wasn't just an evolution, it really was a complete rethink. The grips were longer and more ergonomic.
The triggers were actually curved for your fingers. And the analog sticks finally had a proper concave design. Even the touch pad, which sure, maybe it wasn't revolutionary for gaming, showed that Sony was willing to break from tradition.
At least in my opinion, it was a straight up better controller in every possible way. E3 2013 wasn't just another gaming conference. It was the day that basically determined the entire console generation before a single system was even sold. Your boy Austin had a front row seat.
Now, this was my first E3, and let me tell you, the energy was wild. So back then, all the major announcements happened on a single day. So in the morning, there was the Microsoft Xbox showcase. And for context, they had already stumbled with the initial Xbox One reveal, which was a few months earlier. I mean, that was focused on TV and entertainment way more than actual gaming.
But the thought, the hope was that they would surely course correct for E3, right? Had plenty time to figure something out, right? (Austin laughs) What followed was quite possibly the most catastrophic press conference in gaming history. Microsoft announced the Xbox One would require an always online connection. Games will be locked to your account, making it nearly impossible to share or resell them. And the console will come bundled with a mandatory Kinect camera, with the low, low price of $499.
Now, I gotta level with you, I actually remember at the event when they announced the 499 price, I cheered. Now, for reference. I was really excited. This was my first time being at a console launch, but I think I was the only person in that room who was excited. If you play it back, the room is so quiet, although you'll hear very faintly a, "Yeah," from an Austin in the back.
- I'm excited to announce that Xbox One will launch this November in 21 markets around the world at $499 in the US and 499 Euros in European markets. (crowd cheers) - Never admitted this. I don't think anyone noticed it, but this is my time to come clean. I was excited for the Xbox One price for three seconds before I realized that, wait a minute, that's not a good number.
Hey, whoops. But the real drama was just beginning. A few hours later at Sony's conference, I witnessed what can only be described as a methodical dismantling of Xbox's entire strategy. Sony had clearly prepared for this moment, and they executed it perfectly. - This is how you share games on PS4. - Thanks.
- As if that wasn't enough, Sony also revealed that the PS4 would be more powerful than the Xbox One. And then came the knockout blow, $399. - I'm very proud to announce that PlayStation 4 will be available at $399. (crowd cheers) - The reaction in the room was as if they had just announced "Half-L ife 3."
Now, maybe it's hindsight talking, but I swear you could feel the energy in the room shift instantly. Within weeks, Microsoft's Don Mattrick was out. The Xbox team reversed almost every controversial decision.
And pretty much all the goodwill that they had built out during the Xbox 360 era, it had evaporated essentially overnight. Now, what's fascinating is that this part of the story isn't really about the PS4 itself. It's about Sony's learning from the PS3's failure, while Microsoft seemingly forgot how to do anything good that they had done on the Xbox 360. What felt like a safe and maybe even a boring new PlayStation console suddenly became the more powerful, cheaper, and most importantly, the more consumer friendly option in a single day. After the absolute slam dunk of an E3, Sony just had to stick the landing.
On November 15th, 2013, the PlayStation 4 officially hit store shelves. And unlike the PS3's rocky $599 launch, this time everything just, well, it just clicked. The sales numbers really tell the story.
1 million consoles in North America in a single day. Stores had to stop taking pre-orders because they literally couldn't guarantee stock. Right out of the gate, players started noticing the games simply ran better on PS4. We're talking titles hitting 1080p on PS4, whereas on the Xbox One, they were struggling at 900p or even 768p. Now, sure, that doesn't sound like a massive difference, on paper at least. But don't forget, the PS4 was also the cheaper console.
This performance gap became a running theme that would define the early years of the generation. But the real victory, Sony wasn't bleeding money this time around. So lemme break down the numbers.
Each PS4 was estimated to cost around $381 to manufacture, and was of course sold at $400. Even after factoring in the retailer margins, this was maybe not quite break even, but a whole lot closer than the PS3. Which I'll remind you that Sony was losing over $200 per console at launch. Finally, PlayStation could focus on selling games instead of trying to climb out of a financial black hole. Now, of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing. "Watch Dogs," which was supposed to be the game that showed off the next gen and what it could do, it got delayed at the last minute.
There were also some PlayStation fans who were a little bit salty that online gaming now required a paid PS Plus subscription. Which to be fair was a pretty big change from the PlayStation 3's free online play. But these were minor speed bumps on what was an otherwise, I mean, if I'm honest with you, it was a victory lap.
Remember that humble practical approach that Sony took after the PS3 disaster? It was paying off big time, boy. Big time, boy. Big time, paid off big time, boy. By early 2014, the sheer scale of Sony's success was becoming clear. The PS4 was selling faster than any previous PlayStation in the launch window, even the legendary PS2.
Just think about that for a second. The safe and boring PS4 was outpacing what would be the best selling console of all time. Now, while the PS4 didn't ultimately quite match the PS2's final sales figures, the momentum in those early days was absolutely wild. The game situation was particularly interesting. While first party exclusives were a bit thin in these early years, something that would of course drastically change later on, third party support was incredibly strong. Major franchises like "Destiny" chose PlayStation as their lead platform.
Call of Duty DLC started coming to PS4 first instead of Xbox. And that performance advantage we saw at launch, it really became the norm because the PS4 was simply the best place to play. Unless you were sad and alone playing a Wii U in the corner. PlayStation was where it's at. Where actually, technically, I was playing "Titanfall" on the Xbox One, but we won't talk about that. By 2016, Sony had sold over 40 million PS4s, more than double the Xbox One's estimated numbers.
The lead was so substantial that Microsoft actually stopped reporting Xbox sales figures altogether, probably out of embarrassment. Yikes. This led Sony to launch, not one, not two, but three new pieces of hardware in 2016. The PS4 Slim, the PS4 Pro, and PlayStation VR. Each one represented a different bet on the future of gaming.
But as you'll see, not all of them were a huge win. Let's start with the simplest one, the PS4 Slim. Like every PlayStation before it, this was just a smaller, cheaper version of the base console that brought the price down to $300. But this time, the Slim was completely overshadowed by its more ambitious sibling, the PS4 Pro. The idea was simple. Take the existing PlayStation 4 and give it some serious horsepower.
The original PS4 launched right as 4K TVs were starting to hit the mainstream, but it was firmly designed for HD gaming. Sony's solution was clever. They kept the same basic architecture, but packed in a slightly faster CPU and a much beefier GPU. Paired with a new upscaling technique called checkerboard rendering, games could look dramatically better on 4K displays, even if most of the time they weren't running at actual native 4K.
While the concept of a pro console feels normal today, it was a real gamble for Sony back in 2016. They priced it at $399. The same price point that the original PS4 launched at. Imagine a pro console launching at the same price that the original one had a couple years ago.
What a novel concept. And importantly, they also included a one terabyte hard drive with it. Not to be outdone, at E3 2016, Microsoft teased Project Scorpio as quote, "The most powerful console ever." But that wouldn't ship until late 2017, giving Sony a full one year headstart in the premium console space. The pro was relatively successful out of the gate. Reviews were positive, and while games did need specific patches to take advantage of the extra power, titles like "Rise of the Tomb Raider" and "Horizon Zero Dawn" showed what was possible.
It wasn't all perfect though. Some people complained about the lack of an Ultra HD Blu-ray drive, something that you could find in the much cheaper Xbox One S. It was also not a super straightforward upgrade if you already owned a PS4. I mean, sure, it looked better, but it was not a dramatic improvement in the way that a properly new generation would be. Then there was PlayStation VR. This is actually a longer story than you might remember.
Sony first showed off Project Morpheus at GDC 2014, and I got hands on with it a few months later at E3. Now, it's easy to forget that this was peak VR hype. I mean, Oculus and HTC were promising the future of gaming, and Sony absolutely wanted a piece of that action. But Morpheus was clearly unfinished. Sony spent over two years showing it off at various trade shows before finally launching PlayStation VR in October of 2016, just weeks after the PS4 Pro.
The final products felt, well, a little half-baked, if I'm honest with you. Instead of developing new controllers, for example, Sony just reused the PlayStation Move controllers from the PS3 era. Mini USB ports and all. The price was the real killer though. The core PS VR headset with the breakout box, which was mandatory, cost $400, the same price as a PS4 Pro.
Then you needed the $60 camera, which was absolutely mandatory and not included. And you also probably wanted the $80 Move controllers. Even with some of the stuff being bundled together and you'd save a few bucks, it was a huge ask, especially considering that you also needed a PS4 as well. Sony eventually sold about 5 million PS VR headsets, which sounds okay until you realize a lot of these were sold at deep discounts.
For the last couple of years of the PS4's life, you could regularly find PS VR bundles for only two to $300. The PS4 Pro fared quite a bit better. At the end of the PS4's run, it's estimated that around 20% of all PS4s sold were pros.
Now, that's not earth shattering, but it was a decent chunk of premium sales that proved that there was absolutely a market for mid generation upgrades. When Microsoft finally launched the Xbox One X in 2017, it did take back the most powerful console crown with objectively better 4K performance. But ultimately, it wasn't enough to change the narrative on the Xbox One.
That ship had well and truly sailed, in 2013. Looking back, there is absolutely no doubt that the PlayStation 4 is one of the most successful consoles, not only for Sony, but of all time. With over 117 million sales, it's second only to the juggernaut that was the PS2, and it absolutely dominated the Xbox One, selling at least twice as many units. And I guess the Wii U exists somewhere in the middle of there too.
But for me, the PS4, its legacy is not just about the sales numbers. The PlayStation 4 completely transformed how Sony approached console design. It's straightforward PC-like architecture became the blueprint, not just for the PS5, but even the current Xbox Series consoles that are basically using the same playbook. Powerful but familiar hardware the developers actually want to work with. But maybe the PS4's most important legacy is how it cemented Sony's position as the dominant force in gaming.
Now, to be fair, it wasn't just sheer Sony genius that brought them back on top. I'd argue that half the reason the PlayStation 4 was so dominant was because just how much Microsoft shot themselves in the foot. If at E3 they had unveiled an Xbox One that didn't require Kinect, that didn't try to lock down used games, and wasn't a more expensive less powerful alternative to the PS4, honestly, this generation may have gone a very different way. But Microsoft threw away their goodwill, and it's something that they've never really recovered from. It's almost ironic. The PS4 was Sony's least ambitious console, but it might just be their most influential.
It wasn't revolutionary like the PS One. It didn't define an era like the PS2, and it didn't push technology to its limits like the PS3. The PS4 just focused on being a really good gaming console, and sometimes that's exactly what you need. If you enjoyed this video, definitely be sure to subscribe to the channel. And feel free to catch our earlier episodes breaking down every other generation of PlayStation. We've been working on this series quite literally all year long, so I hope that you've enjoyed.
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2024-12-15