With the rumour mill churning away for PlayStation 5 specs and potentially near release dates, there’s been a fair bit of evaluation of this current generation. Has it been a good one? Is it coming to an end too soon? Have there been enough great games? Has Games as a Service hobbled the AAA side of games? Or is it just a shift in how we consume games?
Of course a lot of that is subjective. Some will believe there has been nothing but scraps this generation, others will balk at the idea this has been anything but a successful era for PlayStation. And there’s a bounty of opinions that stretch from one end to the other.
The handling of the console itself is the crux for much of the criticism levelled at Sony. The lack of Cross Play, backwards compatibility, user name changes, a stable network, PS Plus lineups, and even the lack of a 4K Blu Ray disc drive on the PS4 Pro have contributed to a generation-long moan buzzing away in the background.
Yet the PS4 has sold like the hottest cakes from the Devil’s own bakery, and there are plenty of games of all shapes and sizes. So there’s plenty of ways you could judge the console’s tenure thus far, but the games should matter most, right?
There’s been an intriguing range of good to great PS4 exclusives such as Horizon: Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4, Bloodborne, Yakuza 0 and 6, Persona 5, Nex Machina, Gravity Rush 2, and more. That’s not even taking in the belting third party titles from developers and publishers of various sizes like The Witcher 3, Titanfall 2, Rocket League, Stardew Valley, What Remains of Edith, Overwatch, and NieR Automata.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Plus, there’s still even more on the horizon.
It would be strange to suggest this has been a disappointing generation if you factor games alone, but given the growing discontent with freemium tactics showing up in AAA titles, games releasing light on content, and a section of players who see indie titles as something inferior, you can at least see why it might be suggested.
So we have to ask, how has the PS4 era been for you? Why do you feel that way? What could be better?
Let us know below.