Console, Opinion, PlayStation

Should You Wait for the PS5, or Get the PS4 Now?

Ever since the PlayStation 5 was confirmed to be released by the end of 2020, sales of the PlayStation 4 have steadily dropped. It’s not exactly a surprise, of course: why would you want to buy a product if its successor is just around the corner?

Well, even if the PS5 will be hitting store shelves in less than a year, there are still good reasons to buy the PS4 right now. This is especially the case if you’ve been eyeing to get it for quite some time now. If you’re still not convinced, read on.

There’s a Great Library of Games

As far as exclusive games go, the PS4 arguably has the best library. You’ve got Naughty Dog’s excellent Uncharted series and The Last of Us Remastered – though the latter was originally released on the PS3 – Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and of course, Hideo Kojima’s latest masterpiece, Death Stranding.

To top it off, these are just some of the titles that were released in the past few years exclusively for the PS4: you cannot access any of these games on a different platform. At least, not until the PC version of Death Stranding is released sometime this year, though that’s the only exception here.

Trust us, you’ll definitely have a vast library of games – exclusive or not – to go through if you’re new to the PS4 system. The best part is, the platform’s selection of games are still growing.

More Big Titles Are Coming to PS4

That’s right. Just because the PS5 is due to be released this year, that doesn’t mean the PS4 isn’t getting any new games. Just to name a few, there’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima, and arguably one of the most anticipated games of 2020, The Last of Us Part II.

Personally, I believe The Last of Us Part II itself makes the PS4 a must-buy, even if it’s already this late into the system’s life cycle. Naughty Dog’s games are known for their amazing storytelling, and I’m absolutely positive The Last of Us Part II will be the studio’s best story yet.

The PS4 Is a Lot More Affordable Now

It’s been quite some time since the latest revision of the PS4 and PS4 Pro hit the market – back in 2016, in fact – so it’s only natural their retail prices have dropped tremendously since then. The standard PS4, for one, can be bought for merely RM799 now. If you want the Pro system, it’s currently listed at only RM1,259.

Given that the PS4 and PS4 Pro used to retail at RM1,349 and RM1,799 respectively when they were launched in Malaysia, you’re already saving quite a bit of money by purchasing either one of the two consoles now. Who doesn’t like to save money wherever they can?

The PS5 Is Still Shrouded in Mystery

There have been a lot of chatter on what to expect with the upcoming PS5, but plenty of details regarding the console itself are still under wraps. Does it truly have backwards compatibility as suggested? And if it does, will it work with physical PS4 games? Or can it only play digital versions of them?

More importantly, we don’t even know how much the PS5 would cost. Without a doubt the upcoming console will cost more than the PS4 at launch, but the question is: how much more? If rumours are to be believed, the PS5 may be priced close to the RM2,000 mark. That’s drastically more than what you would have to pay for a brand new PS4 – or even the Pro model – right now.

But If You Can Wait..

If you’re willing to wait, and you don’t care about playing upcoming PS4 titles as and when they are released, it may be worth waiting for the release of the PS5. It will definitely cost more than the PS4, but the PS5 will also likely be superior in almost every way.

Not only will the PS5 be more powerful than the PS4, it will finally ditch slow hard disk drives in favour of much faster solid-state drives for storage. So not only will you be able to enjoy more graphically demanding games on the PS5, loading times will be cut down considerably as well.

Even though it remains to be seen how backwards compatibility will work on the PS5, it will very likely support PS4 titles. Given that the PS5 will be launching before the end of this year, it’s not a horribly long wait either, and it could be worth it for certain folks.

But if you’ve been waiting to get your hands on the PS4 for the longest time, don’t feel bad about buying it now. Not only does it have a huge catalogue of excellent games, it has gotten a lot more affordable since its release. Plus, you’ll be able to play highly anticipated titles like Final Fantasy VII Remake and The Last of Us Part II right when they are released in April and May 2020 respectively.

Can you play these games on the PS5 as well? Probably. But can you wait until the next generation console is released? That’s the RM799 question.

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