The Playstation 5 is Sony’s newest gaming console that came out on November 12. By March 31st it supposedly sold 7.8 million PS5 consoles around the world. Market research company NPD said the PS5 was the fastest-selling console in US history through its first five months of availability, both in terms of units moved and total dollar spent. 

So it’s a popular console, but gamers are still asking the question about whether the PS5  is worth the struggle and money to purchase one right now? So let’s lay out the differences between Sony’s next-generation console, its predecessor the PS4, and its rival consoles.

Improvement to the PS5

The PlayStation 5 has made a huge jump from the PlayStation 4 when it comes to specs. The PS4 RAM is 8 gigabytes while the PS5 doubles it to 16 gigabytes. PS5 has a custom GPU of 10.28 TFLOPs, which more than doubles the PS4, making this calculation about 10 trillion a second for the console to run faster.

When the original PS4 came out, the storage capacity was 500 gigabytes but then doubled it to a terabyte when the PS4 slim and pro models came out. Now the PS5 storage capacity is 825 GB which is a lot but not enough space for newer games like WARZONE taking up more than 200 gigabytes.

The PS5 now supports the visuals of native 4K 120Hz and 8K which the PS4 was 1080p. But to apply that you need a TV or monitor that supports those visuals. The 4K and 8k capability will allow games to have a cinematic quality, enhancing the overall immersiveness of the experience.

PS5 and PS4 Games

Since the PS5 came out 5 months ago, there are a couple of big titles that support the PS5 fullest potential. When obtaining the PS5 with PlayStation Plus, you get free access to 20 best-selling PS4 games for free like God of War, Uncharted 4, Black Ops 3, and more.

If you previously owned a PS4 you will be able to play those games on the PS5, but the only difference that I found is loading time being faster and the frame per second being smother. Some PS4 games will have a free upgrade to the PS5 version of the game. Now that the PS5 is out, we will be expecting a lot more PS5 exclusives similar to Returnal in the future like God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, and Final Fantasy 16.

Recommended Games

Below are some of the games that have PS5 versions that will support the tech on the controller, increase the frame per second, and support 4K. 

• Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War
• Astros Playroom
• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla 
• Borderlands 3 
• Control
• Demon’s Souls
• Destruction Allstars
• Godfall
• It takes two
• Spider-Man: Miles Morales
• Avengers
• Outriders

DualSense Controller

The DualSense controller has to be the best controller that any console has made. Sony introduces major development the haptic feedback on the DualSense controller. While playing a PS5 game like Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, you can feel the triggers L2 and R2 will need a lot more force when you‘re using a weapon in-game. They added this to the remote so players can get a sense of how it is realistically but personally, I say it’s best to have them off or weakened while playing a competitive game. 

Vibration also made an improvement to the controller so now you can feel every step your character makes or whenever you take damage. 

One disappointment I saw while playing Astros Playroom for an hour and a half was that my controller was one bar away from dying. So although the controller has cool features it will drain the battery pretty quick so I recommend lowering the settings on the controller to last longer.

Is the PlayStation 5 Worth It?

I believe the PS5 is worth getting but not at the moment. Since the consoles are so difficult to get, it’s not worth getting the console immediately since you’re not missing out as much. There are a lot of features that need to be updated to the console that will be nice to have like the ability to customize your home screen and main menu with a theme. I have no clue why they removed that feature but it would be a nice thing to have returned.

When you compare the Xbox Series X to the PS5 there are some important differences; However, the PS5 also has some advantages over the Series X. 

I personally haven’t used the Xbox Series X but critics from IGN had said that the loading times on the Series X do not match the speed of the PlayStation 5.

The one thing I like about the Series X is the backward compatibility with older games because you can play every game that ever existed in Xbox history.  

If you do end up getting the PlayStation 5, enjoy Sony’s new generation of console.