God of War Ragnarok is a monumental success, a seismic achievement that’s wooed critics (well, not all of them) and enraptured audiences. The game has outsold both Elden Ring and Call of Duty during its first week on sale, and is also the fastest-selling game in the series thus far. The game’s been a huge vindication for the several delays it’s suffered, and puts paid to the frankly ridiculous idea propagated by some publishers that single-player games are in some way dying.
But something that Ragnarok doesn’t beat the drum for is the idea that, two years into its life cycle, the PlayStation 5 is some kind of must-buy console that offers experiences you won’t find anywhere else. The game runs so well on the nearly decade-old hardware of the PS4 (and even better on PS4 Pro) that it seriously brings into question the merits of upgrading to the recently price-hiked PS5.
Of course, it’s not just Ragnarok. Kratos’ latest outing is the latest in a succession of first-party Sony ‘exclusives’–Marvel’s Spider-Man, Horizon: Forbidden West, Stray, and Gran Turismo 7, to name a few–that run well to very well on last-gen hardware. But Ragnarok is inarguably the biggest blockbuster of that bunch–a title that will define this console generation–even though it’s technically just proven itself to be a last-gen game. It’s as much a shoe-in for a list of the best PS5 games of all time as it is for a list of PS4 ones. Isn’t that a strange thought?
Let’s be clear, this is an immense credit to everyone involved in the creation of the game–Santa Monica Studios for not neglecting or rushing development of the older-gen version, and Sony for greenlighting a PS4 release in the first place. It’s a fan-friendly move, and there’s nothing to say it doesn’t make good business sense either; if hardware is ultimately just a great big plastic driver for years of software sales, then why would Sony care if people are continuing to buy cross-gen games on the PS4 for the same price they would on PS5? If anything, it means Sony is just maximising the value of the PS4 to both itself and gamers.
This kind of last-gen support is unprecedented in the history of the Playstation, and quite possibly consoles as a whole. Looking back at those early-middle years PS4 exclusives–Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, Infamous Second Son, Killzone Shadow Fall, and (lest we forget) The Order: 1885–none of them came out on PS3. It was the same story in the preceding generation, with the best PS3 exclusive games in those transitional years–Resistance, Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone 2, to name a few–not appearing on the PS2, despite the console’s enduring popularity.
Looking at the above games puts into perspective the flattening of the curve of technological progress with each successive generation. It’s hard to imagine many of those aforesaid PS4 games running well on PS3, and nigh-on impossible that those PS3 exclusives would’ve worked in any recognisable form on the PS2. Two years into this generation, we have what will almost certainly be one of its greatest games running swimmingly on last-gen hardware, with visual differences requiring the trained eye of the folks at Digital Foundry to really spot.
Sure, you could argue that the true power of the PS5 is simply being held back by its best games being cross-gen, and while that may be part of the story, it’s far outweighed by the fact that the underlying tech of videogames just isn’t advancing as rapidly as it was throughout the 90s and 2000s. It’s still evolving, but the revolution is now far behind us.
Sony’s new and gamer-friendly approach to its premium PS5 games may not make its latest console look great on a technical level. It does, however, make Sony look good to show such a level of support for their last-gen console; it’s also a fine look for the PS4 to run a blockbuster game so well, and sends a strong message that ‘PlayStation hardware lasts’). In their own way, Sony are doing the ‘Xbox’ thing of separating the identity of the PlayStation brand from its latest-gen plastic box. It’s something that’s evident not only in their ongoing support for the PS4, but also in their ever-expanding roster of first-party PC games. Playstation is becoming an idea defined more by its games than its hardware.
I’ve had my fair share of thoughts on Sony’s pricing this console generation. I think the PSVR 2’s price will sadly undo the good work of its predecessor in opening the magic of VR up to new audiences. The PS5 price hike, meanwhile, was seized upon by Phil Spencer and Xbox when they explicitly didn’t raise the price of their console, which led me to suggest that the Xbox is framing itself as the ‘gamer-friendly’ console during financially strenuous times.
However, if Sony continues supporting straddling generations in this way, and makes its latest titles available on the PS4 for years to come, then that will make up for that PS5 pricing, because the console effectively then becomes a luxury to play the latest games in the best way rather than a necessity to play them at all. That’s great for gamers, and it seems to be working for Sony too.
