Despite the PlayStation 5 having been around for almost two years now, Sony has announced that the PlayStation 4 is still in the company’s focus.
The company had previously stated that it believes in “generations”, alluding that they would be moving on from the PS4 rather quickly, however in an interview with US tech publication Axios, Sony will continue to make games available for the older console.
“We certainly don’t want to forget the millions of active players on PS4, and we want to ensure there are great games for them as well,” said PlayStation Studios boss, Herman Hulst.
“We’re evaluating it on a case-by-case basis.”
This is an interesting decision for the company, who has been suffering from a decline in console and game sales. Sony has reported a decline of 37% operating profit from game sales, with the number of games sold down 26%.
The PS5 has also sold millions less than the PS4 at the same point in it’s life-cycle.
Whilst there are many factors that contribute to a sales decline, removing the need to upgrade to the PS5 to keep playing games, exclusives included, will only hinder console sales.
That being said, with game sales down, releasing games on the already widely distributed PS4 means a larger audience and hopefully more sales.
Games already released on both PS4 and PS5 include Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7 and soon God of War: Ragnarok.
For those who have purchased a PS5, this is a bit of a kick in the gut, particularly as getting your hands on the latest Sony console has been a nightmare thanks to scalpers. With the news that many games will still be released on the PS4, PS5 owners may be wondering why the upgraded at all.
Its likely that not all games will make it on to PS4 due to hardware requirements, and those that do will have toned down graphics to keep frame rates up on the old hardware.