The long-tail on the PlayStation 4 has been unbelievable. The console nonetheless has 49 million lively customers in line with Sony’s most up-to-date estimate. However all good issues should come to an finish, and it feels extra clear than ever that Sony is able to depart the PS5’s predecessor prior to now, with Horizon Lego Adventures being the ultimate nail within the coffin.
That growing sense of bon voyage isn’t totally new. The final main cross-gen unique Sony launched was God Of Battle Ragnarök on the finish of 2022. The next 12 months’s Spider-Man 2 launched with no PS4 model. Burning Shores, 2023’s enlargement for the cross-gen Horizon Forbidden West, was additionally a “next-gen” unique. “PlayStation 4 Technology Is Effectively And Actually Over!” one viral tweet from final summer time learn. “Crossgen Is Over!”
Regardless of hinting that growth can be phased out by 2025, Sony has by no means formally confirmed that it’s achieved making video games for the PS4. It’s final phrase on the topic got here from lately minted PlayStation co-CEO Hermen Hulst in 2022. “We definitely don’t need to neglect the hundreds of thousands of lively gamers on PS4, and we need to guarantee there are nice video games for them as effectively,” the then-head of PlayStation Studios advised Axios on the time. “We’re evaluating it on a case-by-case foundation.”
There was motive to assume one or two first-party initiatives would possibly nonetheless squeak out onto the older {hardware}. Along with being on Nintendo Change on account of licensing calls for, MLB The Present 24 additionally nonetheless got here to PS4 and Xbox One. Then Sony revealed Horizon Lego Adventures at Summer time Recreation Fest, a kid-friendly co-op recreation seemingly geared toward broadening the sci-fi collection enchantment.
To that finish the it’s coming to Change along with PS5 when it launches later this 12 months, however weirdly not PS4. That appears like an intentional enterprise choice slightly than a technical necessity. The older system can clearly deal with the benchmarks set by Nintendo’s getting older handheld hybrid and is little doubt lively in hundreds of thousands of households with kids that also haven’t upgraded to PS5, and maybe nonetheless received’t since this 12 months’s Name of Responsibility, Madden, and EA FC Sports activities (previously generally known as FIFA) will all be out there on the final technology machines.
However 2024 has been filled with of PlayStation console exclusives and virtually all of them have skipped the PS4. Earlier this 12 months these included Remaining Fantasy VII: Rebirth, Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, and Rise of the Rōnin, the latter three of which have been printed by Sony. Granblue Fantasy: Relink was the lone exception, in all probability as a result of its growth was initially introduced again in 2016.
Extra lately, Sony revealed its upcoming reside service hero shooter Harmony will probably be a PS5 console unique too. It might have been technically unfeasible to deliver the Overwatch 2 competitor to a weaker system, however there definitely would have been an curiosity in aiming it at as huge an viewers of potential PS Plus subscribers as attainable. Astro Bot skipping PS4 additionally doesn’t really feel like it will have been a forgone conclusion given the extra Nintendo-like scope of the undertaking, although it’s simpler to grasp when you see how built-in the PS5 DualSense is into the material of what makes the sport enjoyable and compelling.
Whereas unlucky for PS4 homeowners, it wouldn’t be stunning if Sony has certainly quietly determined to show the web page on among the finest console-generations of all-time. If something, it’s extra stunning that the cross-gen celebration has lasted so long as it has. We’re already within the second half of the PS5’s lifecycle and platforms have historically ditched growth on older console generations a lot sooner in an effort to get extra individuals to improve sooner. Covid clearly disrupted the “regular” transition intervals for the PS5 and Xbox Sequence X/S. And possibly ballooning first-party budgets did too. God Of Battle Ragnarök wouldn’t have set a gross sales file if it had been on new {hardware} alone.
It’s unclear if Horizon Lego Adventures and Astro Bot are proof that Sony’s going to start out rebuilding the smaller, inexpensive a part of its first-party portfolio. Is so, possibly there’s nonetheless hope for one final first-party recreation on PS4. Someway I doubt it.
Sony didn’t reply to a request for remark.