Ben-DutkaAs times goes on, we look back at our actions and reflect.
I suppose one question some gamers have been asking themselves is: "Did I really need to buy a PlayStation 4 on launch day?"
I've been gaming for a long time, so I know it takes a while for a generation to really get rolling. Unless your name is the PS2, you probably won't see world-ending AAA apps in the first year of the new system's availability. I think the astute, seasoned gamer knows this. And yet, sometimes we can't help ourselves: When a shiny new console arrives on the market, we just gotta have it, right? This goes double if you're a lifelong fan of the brand in question.
However, in all fairness, what did we get out of having the PS4 so early? I mean, I had a ton of fun with inFamous: Second Son but in retrospect, it doesn't fit my idea of what a true "next-gen" production should look and feel like. I mean, it's obviously a step in the right direction, and it hints at what the PS4 can do, but that's about it. And beyond that, what else can we really point to right now? The Last Of Us: Remastered ? Sure, great for a collection, I guess, but…
Hey, I have no doubt that PlayStation will once again have the console to own for all serious core gamers out there. In another five or six years, we'll be counting up the many amazing AAA exclusives on that system. I just wonder if people are looking at their PS4s right now and going, "you know, I could've waited a year…"
I'll tell you this much. No more Nintendo systems before 1 year. They keep getting price cuts too soon.
Now for the PS4. If people don't buy it immediately, won't it just tell Sony nobody wants it? Then why would developers want to make games for a poorly selling system? Any games being developed will get the phoning in approach. Not like a lot of people will be playing it anyway.
Good point, if early adopters didn't exist, gaming would likely be solely on our phones… I dread that world.
I'm still putting more hours on my PS3 and 360, but I don't regret buying the PS4 on Day 1. I had the means to buy but I knew that it would be some time before it would see heavy use. That being said though, anyone who waited for a year wouldn't too badly put out.
No.
Those games are not great right now. And it's silly to expect the PS4 to come to terms with big games later in the cycle cuz we had tons of evidence this console had extra time being built in the hopper and 3-4 years of PS4 game devving. The heartstoppers should be here by now and Second Son was so simplisic and comical and unimaginative I couldnt believe how they dropped the ball. Then they hurt early buyers by giving them crappy PSPlus games (besides Outlast).
Now the cross gen and remaster generation has begun so next gen games could wait until 2016 now. We might get a taste in 2015 with The Order: 1886.
Hopefully times will change now that MS has closed its Xbox Entertainment Studios, fired 18,000 people, and focused on mobile marketing. 3rd party games may decide to give up on the lackluster attach rate of xbox for the superior PS4 to make their games best.
Excellent post
i agree,i think 2015 will be a small step in the right direction,with the witcher 3/the order/uncharted 4,
For me ps4 begins in 2015, meanwhile i will be playing ps3 most of the time.
Lets hope 2016 will be better with more real next gen games and less cross gen
Last edited by slow and smart on 7/22/2014 2:37:50 PM
Aren't launch periods always kind of paltry, in terms of available games? , personally this has been one of the best launches in terms of game I can remember in a long time. While many of games on the PS4 I wasn't exactly thrilled about. They weren't exactly lacking in terms of content.
Yes we had ports which we always have at launch but they weren't sloppy, AC4 was a better game on next gen then current gen, BF4 was a better game (when it worked) on next gen than current gen etc. InFamous and Killzone SF, have deliver on what the PS4 can do for years to come. You ask was it necessary to buy a PS4 at Launch? Let me follow that up, with do you want PS4 to receive the same treatment as PS Vita?
Exactly I rest my case.
Also, a lot of developers are probably on the fence, & are uncertain if its worth the effort to develop for next gen. So if you were to decide not, to Purchase A PS4 On Launch Day, that wouldn't help your case with Devs. But now With healthy sales of PS4 as well as XBOX one, I think we can expect great games to more regularly in the next future.
You have to give Devs a reason to put games on your Game Console, if PS4 Sold like Vita you would see half of Dev support, for the last few years, until they deem the install base worth it….
One word.
BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODBORNE!!!!
There are better games for this launch than there were for the launches of the ps2 or the ps3. I would never say a day one launch is necessary, but there is a much better argument for the ps4 than there was for the last two generations. The ps1 had a better launch lineup though
I usually will not purchase a console on release day unless there are some awesome exclusives games coming out on release day with the console. I do not think the PS4 or Xbox One had enough AAA exclusive titles to warrant a purchase for me and I still do not regret it. Most of the games, for now, that I want to play; I can play on my PS3.
I think it was necessary for Sony. They needed that lead in the console race. Now that they have the lead, the competition is feeling the heat and is having to come up with new strategies, which we as gamers ultimately benefit from.
From a consumer standpoint, no, it was't necessary.
Yes, absolutely it was.
No, no it was not.
of course not!
but the better question would be 12 months after launch day?
hell 18 months after launch day!
we really have zero release dates for big playstation franchises, the only ps4 game announced which is a big well selling franchise is uncharted 4 and that aint releasing till holiday 2015!
so 2 years after launch it will still be yet to have a big system seller release!
And Little Big Planet 3 and Driveclub, which release within the next upcoming quarter. (Not to mention the half-dozen multiplats that will perform best on PS4)
you know your desperate when your calling a new IP and a game that looks like it belongs on freaking facebook, and a small kids game platformer, big system seller releases.
NO ONE bought the ps4 for LBP or drive club, people bought the ps4 for GOW, uncharted, GT, anything ND releases, anything QD releases.
pretty much the things that made the ps3 go through the roof, and LBP certainly was not one of those!
I actually think 5 and a half million copies of Little Big Planet is a big deal… Hopefully I'm not the only one that finds that impressive.
Many people are looking forward to Driveclub, actually.
"LBP belongs on facebook" – yeah you're just insane… I forgot… why'd I respond to begin with?
Yeah _____ is right. This is the same for ps3, the 80 million ps3 owners bought uncharted, gow, and gt, which sold less than 40 million total. Wait.. The numbers dont add right.. Hmm
I liked how his list duplicated things. How Uncharted and anything ND releases counts as two examples…..
I certainly get PS4 in part for anything that ND releases but also Media Molecule and many others on top of that.
I am not interested in GT nor GoW, personally. In fact, all games aren't for MOST owners of a system. (Point to one game that has sold over 40 million copies…. can't be done.)
Cripes! If the PS4 wasn't selling so well, we'd probably be getting a "Why didn't you buy a PS4 on launch day?" article. I only did because I had the money to and is the first time I bought a new console at launch time (because $400 wasn't an outrageous price).
I will say I'm disappointed about the apparent lack of caring by Sony to add media center capability to the PS4. I don't care about 3-D, but even MS is adding 3-D Blu-ray support to the Xbox One very soon. And I don't know if Sony is paranoid about pirated material or whatever, but the inability to play homemade Blu-rays and media files from the PS4 seems almost ridiculous this far out. "Focusing on games" doesn't inhibit their internal OS development team from adding AT LEAST the media support the PS3 has unless they don't actually want to do it…or hold it off as long as possible. I find myself using my PS3 more often still than my PS4 because of media center capabilities. The lack of demos for many PS4 titles is disappointing too, though for cross-platform titles, the same exists for Xbox One.
Well said. Amazing how Xbox is getting the 3D blu-ray update before PS4. I have not pulled the trigger on a new gen console because of the lack of games. PS3 is more than enough for me…for now.
on the bright side, whether one feels it was worth it or not, it is still very important gamers are buying these things at launch and during the first year.
if everyone said, "hey, I'll buy a PS4 when all the great games come out" then great games wouldn't come out because there wouldn't be enough gamers on the platform then we'd be stuck with indie titles at best.. yeah, like Vita =)
so pat yourselves on the back for supporting the PS4 early, even if you didn't feel it was worth it right away.
They could always release it only when games are ready too.
With computers, HDTVs, tablets, and smartphones, next year's model is usually much better than this years model. With a PS4, next year's model is nearly identical; there might be minor internal improvements and lower power draw, but they are mostly identical. So even if you could have postponed a PS4 purchase for a year, there wasn't a major payoff. And there was tons of PS4 content to enjoy throughout the year even if there was nothing truly epic. And part of the fun of game consoles is seeing bleeding edge technology in action when it's brand new. In early 2014, PS4/XBO didn't have the most epic games, but the tech was just so new in a way that won't be true next year. BTW, high end gaming PCs have better CPU/GPU chips, and mainframes have even more horsepower, but most AAA games target something more mass market than that.
Was it necessary..probably not..but when I saw 2k14 on ps3, I knew I needed a ps4. Didn't help I was bored with what was on the horizon, therefore I got mine on launch. Wasn't necessary but I don't regret the decision one bit.
When is it ever necessary to purchase something on launch day? If you want something, you'll buy it when you can and when you are able pure and simple.
No, it's best to jump in a year later at the earliest when there's already a good selection of games and you can maybe get the console at a cheaper price or in a discount bundle. Plus It'll be updated with a years worth of firmware updates.
Usually PS hardware gets a 2.00 update around a year after launch adding lots of cool little features.
Gaming is a luxury – it's never necessary to buy a gaming device ever. So it's all about how people choose to enjoy their luxury.
I got a PS4 day one, and it's given me hundreds of hours of entertainment and I don't regret it one bit. I've played more on PC the last six months, as with any new console the library is limited, but I've had the most fun on the PS4. Killzone, War Thunder, Assassin's Creed (yes, cross gen, but I appreciate the more stable framerate and nicer visuals on PS4, as well as the shorter loads), Don't Starve, Steamworld Dig and now the Destiny beta have all been a blast.
I still pull out the PS3 and give it the odd shake, and like every other console generation before it, it is a little harder going back. The gap is smaller, but there is still a gap, and the PS4 is a better overall experience, one which I've been happy to enjoy since November last year.
That's not to say you can't have fun on a PS3, PS2, SNES or smartphone – they're all luxuries, and none of them are necessary, but I've definitely got value from my PS4.
Not for me. But if I was just 2+ years younger and have finished every game in my backlog then I would absolutely have a PS4.
But PS+ came, and fighting games.
No, but I'm glad people do. Someone needs to.
I'm going to stay the planned and obvious course I intended since it was announced, and I'll be investing at the right time when things really start to take off.
I may consider pulling the trigger this holiday season. There are a lot of multi-plat games I am interested in. We will see how the reviews are and if they warrant a next gen console purchase.
i couldn't wait at the time i really wanted to play ac4 and knack particulary at launch with all the next gen good ness and i will say i got a few 100 hrs worth of time on it over the christmas holidays. and um i wanted to there so that when i game came along i cud go get it and okay rather than man i gotta buy the system for that now rather just have it and let is sit or setting for awhile watever wway u want to look at it. the ps3 was a differet story cos i got mine late so there was tones of cheap games that i could get straight away and alot of good ones i think i've ended up with like 30 or 40 or maybe even 50 games for the ps3 where was i come into the ps4 at the start and just have to have a couple games to start with and wait awhle.
happy gaming