Why GoW: Ragnarok Needs To Be PS4’s Sendoff

The lifespan of a console is a compelling thing to think about. The shelf life of any given console has varied between generations, with cross-generational support being a must during the newer console’s infancy. While the first Playstation was around for 6 years before its successor, the PS2 enjoyed another 6, and the PS3 another 7. The Playstation 4 enjoyed its tenure from 2013 to 2020, and for a spell, it was tough to get your hands on a PS5. But that time has passed, and now developers are struggling to develop games for all PS4 and PS5 models. So, when is it time to move on?

Sony has gone on record to say that it will be “done with PS4 games by 2025”. It may be contentious for me to say that it should be sooner than that, but the truth is that it’s easier than ever to get your hands on a Playstation 5. Thanks to bundles with flagship titles and getting back on track with production, the PS Direct queue stays open for hours at a time and retailers like GameStop have been selling units in droves recently. What was once impossible is now a breeze, and the difference in hardware is staggering. A base PS4 outputs its display less than 4x as strongly as a base PS5.

The same game is developed in vastly different ways for two consoles during this transitional period. This is evidenced in the recent God of War: Ragnarok, as while the game has the same gameplay across both consoles, steps were taken to ensure the PS4 could keep up in performance. As mentioned in early press thoughts, loading screens are masked by Kratos moving slowly through cracks in the wall. It’s a clever way to avoid a black screen load, but was so frequent that it was noteworthy to multiple reviewers. While the PS5 is noted for its near-instant load times thanks to its NVMe SSD, the Hard Disk Drive inside PS4s simply cannot compare.

Gamers that have been playing for decades most likely don’t mind loading screens. Disc-based games prepared us for this dating back to the PS1. Past that, there’s more the PS5 offers that makes it an absolute game-changer in comparison to its predecessor. Regularly reaching a 4K resolution with a steady 60 frames per second is something that computers more than 3 times the cost struggle to do, so the bargaining power is higher than ever with the PS5.

God of War: Ragnarok is a dead ringer for tons of Game of the Year candidates. Its unreal level of polish, testing, and fine-tuning will raise the bar for action gaming, just like the first game in the reboot did back on the PS4 in 2018. With two different consoles to develop for, I have to wonder how those crack-in-the-wall loading screens would have played out if this was a PS5 exclusive, and what kind of scope could have been achieved if the PS4 version wasn’t developed.

Several games in recent times have taken to the approach of only releasing for the PS5 and not the PS4, such as Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and Ghostwire Tokyo. These games could never exist on the PS4, and it’s high time to focus future games to realize their maximum potential on the highly-capable PS5. It’s outlandish to expect a nine-year-old console to provide a AAA experience, as the downgraded versions of modern titles aren’t seeing their full potential. We’ll see a few more years of this, but when the future is here now, I feel God of War: Ragnarok should be the final hurrah.