The PS4.5 has been rumored for a couple months now and will supposedly have a stronger GPU as well as 4K support. It will also apparently have twice the power in its CPU. Despite all that, I simply don’t think it will be good for the gaming industry.
The wonderful thing about console hardware is that you almost always have a guarantee of at least 6-7 years where you won’t have to buy a new console. I would prefer that didn’t change and I think many consumers would agree with me that they don’t have much of an interest in potentially being forced to buy a new piece of hardware before the PlayStation 5 comes out.
I have to admit, I may be wrong about all of this. Maybe having upgraded hardware won’t be an issue for those who decide to keep their old PS4’s. Maybe this upgraded hardware will only be used for VR capabilities, which won’t entirely affect me because I don’t plan on getting VR anytime soon (because I simply cannot afford it). That won’t entirely bother me as a consumer and gamer, although I could imagine it bothering those who already are making an investment in VR because it isn’t exactly cheap to jump into VR.
I simply don’t see the PS4.5 being that beneficial to the industry. Developers are usually able to max out console hardware in pretty amazing ways by the end of the console’s life cycle. We can take a look at games like The Last of Us or Grand Theft Auto V and see that it’s possible to really take advantage of dated hardware before it croaks.
We are only halfway through the life cycle of the PlayStation 4 according to typical patterns in the games industry. The PS4 still blows me away with some of its graphic capabilities. Uncharted 4 hasn’t even come out yet and when I see footage of that game, it looks incredible. We haven’t really let PS4 rise to its full potential and to have developers have to start all over again and deal with a PS4.5 may be more limiting than anybody intended.
The fact of the matter is, console and PC gaming have always coexisted. They are very different things. I personally don’t care for PC gaming because I’m just too lazy…I won’t deny that. I don’t want to spend the time to upgrade my PC’s hardware to be able to play games to their full graphical potential. Why? I don’t really care that much about graphics. I like it when a game is pretty but a Wii U game can look just as pretty as a PS4 game in my eyes (obviously for very different reasons). I love that people can have PCs maxed out to full potential and spend money on parts and I can also just turn my PS4 and start playing Star Wars Battlefront just as they can. Will their copy of Star Wars Battlefront look better? Hell yes it will, but I am okay with that.
I don’t want consoles to adapt to the world of PC gaming. That’s the main point I’m trying to throw out here. Hardware has always been questionable in the video game industry. Do we constantly try to update consoles so that we can max out graphics? I don’t think so. As long as the games are good and we are still seeing innovation, we don’t need the best hardware. We need intelligent strides in game development and constantly updating hardware isn’t necessary for that at all.
I like to know that when I buy my console, I will have 6-7 years of quality gaming experiences that will require no other purchase beyond the actual software to play said gaming experiences. I’m not sure how everyone else feels about this but I have a pretty strict view on it: I don’t really want it if it’s going to strongly effect what software is playable on my current PS4.
What do you think of the PS4.5? Does it bother you or are you open to the idea? Let us know in the comments below!
