Is PS5 worth buying?

[Yousef]

Poor, poor zmbfan.

 

[Снегопад]

After recently getting one, it's time to interject my worthless 2 pence.

The controller's ergonomics are odd to adjust to after using a Dualshock 4 for so long. The microphone being enabled by default also irks me, as I curse like a sailor and don't need my account banned for a string of insults that nobody but myself can hear.
Then again, I'm a Sega fetishist so I believe the six-button Genesis / Saturn controller are better than anything that came after it. Don't debate me, you're wrong.

So far, I haven't played anything exclusive to the console itself. Might get Rift Apart or Astrobot, but that's about all that looks playable.
It's mostly a PS4 Pro Plus. As in, I only use it to play PS4 games, but at half of the storage of my PS4.
My biggest gripe is installing the PS5 variants of games that I own the physical disc of -- Elden Ring keeps trying to install the PS4 version from disc even though I have the PS5 version already installed. At most it's an inconvenience, but still a headache.

I did install the PS5 version of Black Ops 6 thinking that it would fare a bit better than its PS4 counterpart, but all it did was pollute the map with extra bullshit to keep the framerates similar.

If you already have a PS4, I don't recommend it. If you have a decent PC, I definitely don't recommend it, as everything is getting a PC port anyway. Just get a Dualsense from your local store for the complete experience.

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

Pretty sure i posted on this thread before, but i'll reiterate, no PS4/PS5 in my opinion aren't worth getting. They are effectively PC's.

I used to hold out on PC gaming because a console was a cheaper alternative, but that is no longer the case - $700 will get you a decent mid-spec rig, and looking right now I see a few PCs for $999 with a GTX 4060

Mhmm. And if you make your own system from parts (vs prebuilt) the value effectively doubles.

I used to do consoles back when i didn't want to keep upgrading to play games. But GPU's were iffy most of the time and overtly expensive. Changed about 2010 when a second hand GPU and a $400 machine can get you a decent starting Gaming machine. Maybe not for playing newer titles, but all the older ones become available.

 

[cjl8336]

Pretty sure i posted on this thread before, but i'll reiterate, no PS4/PS5 in my opinion aren't worth getting. They are effectively PC's.



Mhmm. And if you make your own system from parts (vs prebuilt) the value effectively doubles.

I used to do consoles back when i didn't want to keep upgrading to play games. But GPU's were iffy most of the time and overtly expensive. Changed about 2010 when a second hand GPU and a $400 machine can get you a decent starting Gaming machine. Maybe not for playing newer titles, but all the older ones become available.

I spent $300 on a mini pc with 32G memory and it is becoming a great emulation box - I got a few 7th gen titles to run at 60 frames and the GPU temp never got above 80°C

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

I spent $300 on a mini pc with 32G memory and it is becoming a great emulation box - I got a few 7th gen titles to run at 60 frames and the GPU temp never got above 80°C

Beelink Mini S 8-16Gb here, but similar experience. PS2 has issues (and need to tweak the settings to get more speed), but otherwise seems to run nearly everything i've put up.

 

[Tonberry]

Pretty sure i posted on this thread before, but i'll reiterate, no PS4/PS5 in my opinion aren't worth getting. They are effectively PC's.

I was scrolling through this thread and had a chuckle when you appeared twice, but both posts where fresh, as if it were two separate threads.
Then I saw this and it happened a third time!

Stay out of the laced cookie jar!

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

I was scrolling through this thread and had a chuckle when you appeared twice, but both posts where fresh, as if it were two separate threads.
Then I saw this and it happened a third time!

At least my opinion is consistent. but it means there's some heavy duplicates on this question.

Stay out of the laced cookie jar!

But Cookies!

 

[RetroCasual]

In terms of economy, getting a PS5 is worth if:

- you already got a 4K monitor/TV.
- you have a really fast internet connection.
- you don't mind about the physical format.
- you really want to play at least 10 or more Sony exclusives and don't have a powerful PC.
- you can get the console for 400 bucks or less.

And yes of course if you are an inconditional fan of Sony PlayStation, but that loyalty will make you buy a PS Portal, a Dualsense Edge, the PSVR2 glasses, a PS5 Pro, pay a PS Plus Premium subscription... Congratulations rich boy!


Even that, you will probably dislike:

- the storage capability (4 or 5 "big" games will easily fullfill the default Hard Disk Drive).
- the poor exclusives catalog which is almost covered by the previous generation (Gran Turismo 7, God Of War Ragnarok, The Last Of Us 2, Death Stranding, Ghost Of Tsushima, Horizon Forbidden West.... most of them can run and are very enjoyable in a PS4 or PS4 Pro) and everything from Sony will appear on PC sooner or later...
- thinking of the next generation (in 2 or 3 years), if a complete PS5 Pro costs you now around 1000 bucks (by adding the optical disk and the standing base to the basic package), how much will cost you the next PS6? And the games? And "what if" there will be a PS6 Pro?
So then... how much time do you calculate you will be able to "stay in the boat" next to Sony's side?

I personally think that game consoles should be for everybody, and not become luxury items, but it seems Sony is taking the road of an elitist model, by launching new expensive hardware updates every 3 years without filling the catalog with lots of games that demonstrate they can't run in previous generations...
Not fair and not justified, so I can't recommend buying a PS5 unless Sony really changes its mind.

 

[Jeanfranc]

I personally think that game consoles should be for everybody, and not become luxury items, but it seems Sony is taking the road of an elitist model, by launching new expensive hardware updates every 3 years without filling the catalog with lots of games that demonstrate they can't run in previous generations...
Not fair and not justified, so I can't recommend buying a PS5 unless Sony really changes its mind.

These days console ARE for everybody, with the death of exclusive content they have become the poor man's pc: there's no reason to buy them unless you can't build a pc like most normies

 

[RetroCasual]

These days console ARE for everybody, with the death of exclusive content they have become the poor man's pc: there's no reason to buy them unless you can't build a pc like most normies

Dude... Seriously... Whoever gets a console to susbstitute a PC is not a poor man, is a FREAK!

 

[nathman]

If Gran Turismo 7 was exclusive to the PS5, like its original rumours suggested, I think I would have bought it.

But no, my PS4 Slim I bought from Cash Converters for £150 can play Gran Turismo 7...

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

there's no reason to buy them unless you can't build a pc like most normies

I'm sure there's a techie in every town in the US. Finding them asking them to buy your parts and build it (or have them do it based on their recommendations for cost/performance) and paying them back plus say $100 for their time, would certainly be worth it.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

If you think Astro Bot is worth 500 bucks

Post automatically merged: Feb 1, 2025

If Gran Turismo 7 was exclusive to the PS5, like its original rumours suggested, I think I would have bought it.

But no, my PS4 Slim I bought from Cash Converters for £150 can play Gran Turismo 7...

All my normie friends have a ps4
I dont know One Guy who has the ps5, I wonder if sony lost a lot of money on it they Gotta be underselling

 

[ATenderLad]

All my normie friends have a ps4
I dont know One Guy who has the ps5, I wonder if sony lost a lot of money on it they Gotta be underselling

That reminds me of the made-up quote attributed for years to Pauline Kael, "I can't believe Nixon won. I don't know anyone who voted for him."

(The actual line was "I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken. But sometimes when I’m in a theater I can feel them.'”)

Actually, the PS5 has pretty much sold at a faster pace than the PS4, comparing their sales history. A recent analysis making the rounds puts the U.S. market sales at 7% ahead of the PS4 over the same amount of time. (I can't find too many numbers for Europe though.)

 

[Lee__Kanker]

That reminds me of the made-up quote attributed for years to Pauline Kael, "I can't believe Nixon won. I don't know anyone who voted for him."

(The actual line was "I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken. But sometimes when I’m in a theater I can feel them.'”)

Actually, the PS5 has pretty much sold at a faster pace than the PS4, comparing their sales history. A recent analysis making the rounds puts the U.S. market sales at 7% ahead of the PS4 over the same amount of time. (I can't find too many numbers for Europe though.)

Couldve fooled me!
But now I do wonder if its just anectdotal evidence not being the whole world or it sold much more in northamerica and asia, or it did sell in italy just not the south cause ppl here have less money

 

[ATenderLad]

Couldve fooled me!
But now I do wonder if its just anectdotal evidence not being the whole world or it sold much more in northamerica and asia, or it did sell in italy just not the south cause ppl here have less money

I did see this in an article:

PS5 is generally keeping pace with the PS4 in Japan too, but it’s in the price sensitive Europe that it’s struggling to maintain pace. It’ll be interesting to see exactly how Sony intends to address this in 2025.

In the US, PS5 Is Selling Much Faster Than PS4 At a Higher Price

Increases gap in 2024

www.pushsquare.com

 

[Lee__Kanker]

I did see this in an article:

In the US, PS5 Is Selling Much Faster Than PS4 At a Higher Price

Increases gap in 2024

www.pushsquare.com

Interesting to see europe described as "price sensitive"
Again at least here, people seldon get the shiny new thing right away, with some exceptions like the wii and handhelds cause they're cheap
The ps2 was still popular in 2008 and the same goes for the ps1 inthe early 00

 

[Skeetos]

Well, I got hyped to answer until I saw OP is gone. But I'll still answer. The damn thing was a waste of money. Demon's Souls was boring, and every other game I bought the paperweight for all came out on pc like a month or so after I bought them. Rebirth, Kingdom Sharts, God of Weenus, FF16, Ratchet and Clank. I'm trying to sell mine currently so I can get a new GPU to play the better versions of all of this. My friend I gameshare on Steam with bought every game I got on PC so now I can just play them there with better non stuttering framerate.

 

[Jeanfranc]

I'm sure there's a techie in every town in the US. Finding them asking them to buy your parts and build it (or have them do it based on their recommendations for cost/performance) and paying them back plus say $100 for their time, would certainly be worth it.

Yeah, though I'd be better if people actually built it themselves.
Another benefit of pc is piracy obviously (something that I would never ever do guys I swear), so you don't really have to pay for games unless they are online or (sadly) have Denuvo, so the only thing that's cheaper about a console is the hardware

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

Yeah, though I'd be better if people actually built it themselves.

Agreed. But a LOT of people don't do hardware. It's small, finicky, and fragile. I'll repeat FRAGILE.

I remember reading a statistic that only about 3% of the population can actually use computers. With the TicToc and smart phones, i'd wager that number has actually gone down (if they weren't phone addicted i'd say it would go up as older generation unexposed to the technology would be slowly removed from the equation).

And among those who can, likely 5% of that 3% are programmers and techies. PC Gamers are far more likely to be in the 3%; But not always.

Spoiler: But not always - true story

I had to order and choose a computer for a friend, and their nephew was insisting they get a highly expensive machine because 'otherwise it would be too slow'. He's 17 and played FPS and Xbox games and didn't understand the usecases of say office which is the main thing they needed, which doesn't require the specs of a gaming machine that is 3x or more the cost where you can wait a couple extra seconds for stuff to process/load.

The nephew also didn't grow up with 100Mhz machines and so doesn't realize how much faster the machines are now, if you don't bog them down with useless crap. Probably drive him crazy to do dialup or wait 20 seconds for an app to load, or copying data on a floppy disk 1 disk at a time for a mere 1.38Mb data.

Back on topic... You don't need to be a techie to work on your computer and build one, but someone who knows what they are doing can be done in a couple hours or so from scratch including getting the OS installed, while someone uninitiated are best handling PCI slots or adding drives which stays away from the smaller and harder components of the system. Being careful with tutorials they can build one, but it will take 3-5x longer probably, and likely resort to help anyways.

 

[Jeanfranc]

Agreed. But a LOT of people don't do hardware. It's small, finicky, and fragile. I'll repeat FRAGILE.

I remember reading a statistic that only about 3% of the population can actually use computers. With the TicToc and smart phones, i'd wager that number has actually gone down (if they weren't phone addicted i'd say it would go up as older generation unexposed to the technology would be slowly removed from the equation).

Indeed tech literacy among youths has been in decline since people started growing up with smartphones, mine was probably the last generation to (mostly) grow up without them

 

[Macky]

ONE GAME I DONT KNOW WHY.

I bought a PS5 for Demon's Souls. the PS5 really has no games. Why does Sony keep doing this.

Its a glorified PS4 to me now (i never owned a ps4).

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

Its a glorified PS4 to me now (i never owned a ps4).

With the scalpers and the low count of games and the shortage... no doubt.

Honestly the XBone S, X and PS5 MIGHT be worth getting if i could sideload apps and have good emulators and make it a central emulation system to play some of the harder to emulate consoles just from raw horsepower. But since they want it locked down it becomes pointless.

 

[Miriel]

With the scalpers and the low count of games and the shortage... no doubt.

Honestly the XBone S, X and PS5 MIGHT be worth getting if i could sideload apps and have good emulators and make it a central emulation system to play some of the harder to emulate consoles just from raw horsepower. But since they want it locked down it becomes pointless.

You can emulate up to PS2/Xbox 360 on the Xbox Series (no PS3/Switch yet due to lack of Vulkan/OpenGL support). Considering you can get a Series S for $150(+$20 for Dev Mode), it makes for a pretty decent emulation machine. A modded Switch is great too. There is no point in getting a PS5 though.

 

[VampireLord1024VampireLord1024's icon]

I'd say no since I heard the PS5 doesn't have a game tray thing and you have to buy it seperate.