Sony is finally making moves to shift its focus totally to the PlayStation 5 - but it may be too late to save this console generation. The PS5 got off to a notoriously slow start, with low sales in its first year, and many games having cross-generational releases even several years into its release. Sony has even implicitly ed a large segment of players who have chosen not to upgrade, putting out free PS4 games every month as part of its PlayStation Plus Essential tier.

But that practice is about to change: Sony is going to slow down on PS4 freebies, according to a post on the official Extra and tiers, whose game catalogs will be filled out with more PS5 games and starting to slow down on acquiring PS4 titles.

PS Plus Is Focusing On The PlayStation 5 In 2026

Sony Moves Away From The PS4

Of course, the shift doesn't affect games players have already claimed through PS Plus, and it's not like all PS4 games will disappear from the catalog overnight. Players can still access their PS4 games through PS Plus as long as they remain subscribed, and those games remain available in the catalog. So it's not a surprising change by any means, especially considering how much ground the PS5 has gained in recent months. If anything, something like this should've happened a couple of years ago.

The reason for PS Plus' move away from PS4 games is made very clear: "many of our players are currently playing on PS5 and have shifted toward redeeming and accessing PS5 titles from the Monthly Games and Game Catalog benefit." It certainly sounds like this decision is based on data, and not just a final push by Sony to get everyone to adopt the PS5. The fact of the matter is that, despite the console's slow start, the PS5 has made good time in catching up.

PS5 sales recently even outpaced the PS4's sales, compared over their respective first 50 months.

But frankly, the change is sudden, and may have come a little too late. Rumor has it the PlayStation 6 could launch as soon as 2027, which means it's well more than two-thirds of the way through the PS5's shelf life. That'd make it roughly equivalent to the PS4's lifespan, which also lasted about seven years. If the PS5 is already over the hill, then why this sudden bump in now?

The PS5 Got Off To A Much Slower Start Than The PS4

The PS5 Can't Rival The PS4's Exclusives

Several factors contributed to a rocky start for the PS5. First, it launched in the throes of a global chip shortage. Due to a perfect storm of the COVID-19 pandemic, a trade war, and increased demand for cryptocurrency farming, computer components were in short supply between 2020 (the PS5's launch year) and 2023. For a while, it was nearly impossible to walk into a local store and buy a PS5 off the shelf without keeping an eye on restock times or getting very, very lucky. Even online restocks would disappear within moments.

So the end result was that many players chose to hang onto their PS4s, and for a while, that was perfectly fine. Most major games kept coming out for both platforms, PS Plus kept offering PS4 titles among its monthly games, most of which weren't held back by their cross-generational releases, and everyone was happy. But over time, that's become a bigger problem for the PS5. Because now, more than two-thirds of the way through its console generation, the PS5 doesn't really have any console-selling exclusives to call its own.

Look at the PS4's game catalog five years into its own release. If anyone wanted to play Bloodborne, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Uncharted 4, The Last of Us Part 2, or Marvel's Spider-Man, they'd have to buy a PS4. Now five years into the PS5's own lifespan, its library pales by comparison. Its only major exclusives are Astro Bot and the Demon's Souls remake - both great games (Astro Bot even won GOTY) but hardly the console sellers PS4 had by this point in its lifespan.

Frankly, with the PS6's release date (supposedly) only a couple of years away, Sony's sudden for the PS5 does more harm than good. It's just a disappointment for anyone who's managed to hang onto their PS4 this long, as the free games they could previously depend on slow to a trickle. It's not like PS5 players majorly benefit from this new focus, either; they've already had five years to build out their libraries, and there aren't enough PS5 exclusives to make an impact on the PS Plus rotation.

It's Already Too Late For The PS5 To Make A True Mark

No Generation-Defining Games Are PS5 Exclusives

Unfortunately, it's probably too far into the current console generation for the PS5 to turn things around and really make its mark. The problem is that, of all the major, generation-defining games to have come out since its launch - things like Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, and Cyberpunk 2077 - none of them are PS5 exclusives or timed exclusives. All of them are playable on the PS5, but none of them are associated closely enough with the console that they'll be considered "PS5 games" first and foremost.

Of course, Sony could shock the world and come out with some incredible PS5 exclusive that completely makes a name for the console, and sets this generation apart. It could take a lot of cues from something like Astro Bot, which won tons of awards for a first-party Sony studio on the strength of its originality. But even then, it'd take a lot to compare with the PS4. By this point in its lifespan, the PS4 had multiple generation-defining games in its library. Even just one from the PS5 could scarcely compete.

Sales of the PS5 have improved in recent years, even beating the PS4's, but sales aren't everything. What really defines how a console is ed throughout the years is its game library. Players tend to the personal experiences they had with a piece of hardware over how much money it made overall, and in that respect, the PlayStation 5 is lagging behind.

Source: PlayStation Blog