Why do we still need PS4 Beta firmwares?
PlayStation hit the PS4 and PS5 with Beta Firmwares earlier this week. Among other things, PS5 7.00 gets Discord Voice chat and VRR 1440p support. But what’s in there for PS4 10.50, and do we really need PS4 Beta firmwares at this point of the life cycle of the console?
PS5 Beta Firmware 7.00 and PS4 Firmware 10.50. What’s new
PS5 Firmware 7.00 introduces some new Social features, in particular voice chat for Discord. It also includes some new gameplay options such as VRR support for 1440p, and, generally speaking, better 1440p support. 7.50 also has some new accessibility and quality of life features, such as improved screen reader, and better savedata migration from PS4 to PS5. Certainly, the latest PS5 Firmware update brings a lot to the table, and so many UX changes deserve a Beta (details on PlayStation blog).
PS4 Firmware 10.50, on the other hand, brings fewer features, according to the Beta email:
- You can now access verified apps from settings.
- The PlayStation app now shows active friends as online in the friends list.
- Unicode 15.0 emoji can now be displayed.
- In supported games, players from other platforms are now visible when playing the game.
So why do we need a Beta for the PS4?
It’s no surprise that Sony are trying to sunset the PS4, in favor of the PS5. Tweaktown reported mid last year that the major takeaway from Sony’s quarterly earning reports was this: Sony stopped reporting on PS4 sales in July 2022, signing the death certificate for the console. And for good reason, according to the numbers:
Source: TweakTown
The PS4 has been in rapid sale decline in particular last year, (although I can’t help but think it’s mostly because, like the PS5, it has pretty much been impossible to find for more than a year – if you don’t produce a device, how do you expect sale figures to go anywhere but down???), and it won’t be a surprise to anyone that Sony are now heavily focused on the PS5.
The news that PS5 are finally in stock “normally” without any kind of invitation or restriction from retailers like Amazon (at the time of writing, the God of War Ragnarok bundle is available at MSRP on Amazon, while the “regular” console is still invitation only) also indicates that everyone’s more or less ready to move on to the PS5.
Now in Stock
Which really brings the question, why did we even need a beta for this upcoming PS4 Firmware? Could 10.50 be the PS4’s Swan Song, or, at least, if not the very last firmware for the PS4, the last to bring actual features?
First. Ps5’s beta feature enabling wireless update for the DualSense is a super convenient addition, assuming anyone is dumb enough to update higher than 4.03 or 4.51
An article here on Wololo said maybe the DualSense could be a potential future exploit point for the Ps5 hence $ony’s decision to make DualSense updates mandatory, any new info on this speculation?
https://wololo.net/2022/09/20/has-it-become-mandatory-to-update-your-ps5-controller/
No info on that speculation yet. I know that some hackers are looking at accessories, as a potential “trusted” access point into the console, but I don’t have more details at the moment
Hope these hackers find something worthwhile, meanwhile maybe we shouldn’t update DualSense.
I would *** if the accessory that is hacked and leads to full Ps5 jb happens to be the $600 Ps VR2 which I don’t plan on buying, lol.
The only PS5’s I’ve seen in a store are the God of War bundles and only at Walmart. The only PS4’s I’ve seen are the Call of Duty Bundles. Until the PS5 can fully play ALL PS4 games there will be people who will want the PS4 still. I actually haven’t touched my PS5 in a long time. It’s still on 4.5 so you can tell by that how long I haven’t played with it.
theres only two or three games that the ps5 cant play…
Ikr, it is not that much.
I do believe the Ps5 has full backwards compatibility with Ps4 games.
With that said I would use the Ps4 to play Ps4 games coz the Ps5 power consumption is extremely high at around 200 watts, whereas Ps4 slim uses around 80 watts and my launch 1200 series uses 110 watts.
The Ps4 pro burns around 170 watts almost close to Ps5.