The PlayStation 5 has been revealed - we know the specs, the accessories, and what it'll look like, but we don't know (as of writing, at least) when it'll launch and how much it will be. The PlayStation community is crazy hyped for it, but there are a lot of opinions on when you should buy it. Earlier adaptors are always going to get the first wave of available consoles because they value having tech as early as possible. However, if you're a little late to the gaming party, maybe you're wondering if it's still a good idea to buy PS4 or if you should wait a bit and just get the PS5.
Personally, I don't think there's a clear cut answer - it'll all depend on what you value more and how willing you are to wait. Let me try to give you some pros and cons for either argument and then maybe we can try to make a decision from there.
Why buy a PlayStation 4 Now?
PS4 is cheap now!
Even if you weren't able to buy during the Days of Play sale, brand new PlayStation 4 units are going for the lowest they've ever gone. A PlayStation 4 Pro unit, without a bundle, goes for around ~Php19,000 these days. And if all the units where you shop are sold out, it's easy to find PlayStation 4 units selling in the second-hand market.
On the other hand, the PS5 is rumored to cost around $599. Play-Asia has a "placeholder" price of about ~Php37,000. That's a lot of money.
The library!
The PS4 has been out for 7 years, and that means there's a massive library of games waiting for you. Even if you don't wanna buy brand new, the second-hand market for used games is also quite big. If you feel like you missed out on great PS4 titles like Spider-Man or God of War or Uncharted 4, or even the really early ones like InFamous Second Son, getting a PS4 means you'll get to experience them for much cheaper than their original asking prices. Plus, because a lot of PS4 games are going to be playable on the PS5, it's not like you're going to let your library fade away when you do upgrade to the PlayStation 5.
All the accessories!
Because the console is so old, there is a slew of first-party and third-party accessories to pick from. I personally use some cheapo third-party controller chargers, and a TON of third party controller shells to give my controllers some flavor.
Worst Possible PS5!
The launch PlayStation 5 is going to be the worst PlayStation 5 ever. Even if there are no major hardware failures with the launch wave of units, consoles have been receiving iterations and hardware improvements a few months after launch. The PS3 and the Xbox 360 had motherboard warping issues, leading to YLOD and 3RL failures. The PS4 eventually had a Pro variant and the Xbox got an X variant, and even if you're not into the extra-powerful versions, almost all consoles receive some kind of refinement, like in the slim models. Even the latest console that had launched, the Nintendo Switch, received two variants - the Lite and the version with the updated battery life. Maybe it's wise to wait for an iteration on the PS5 before investing.
Large, established community!
If you go to forums and even on YouTube comments, you'll find a lot of people saying "Oh, I won't buy for another year" or "I'll wait for a sale" or something like that. That means there's a HUGE community of people who won't be moving to the new console right away. So, if you go online, you'll still have a lot of people to play with and trade games with. And with cross-play being a thing, you'll still get to play against PC and Xbox players.
Why wait for a PS5?
Backwards Compatible!
The PS5 will support backward compatibility with most PS4 games. It won't be every single game, but Sony has tested the top 100 PS4 games and they say most of them work on the PS5. That means that whether you have a PS4 now or if you're going straight into the PS5 ecosystem, you'll be able to play a lot of the top PS4 games on your brand spankin' new PS5.
Exclusives!
The games developed for the PS5 won't work on the PS4. You've got titles like Horizon: Forbidden West and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. If you want to experience these titles before everyone else, then a launch wave PS5 is for you.
Better Console Features!
You have features like faster loading SSDs, the new PlayStation Create thing that replaces the current Share function, and a lot of cloud functionalities. On top of all of that, you're going to get a better home UI experience, supposedly. The UI hasn't been released yet, but Cerny says you can jump from one thing to another very quickly.
Smaller Game Sizes!
So, apparently, because of the way developers design the way games access data for HDDs, there's a lot of duplication, which means bigger sizes for games. With SSDs being the main storage, game designers won't need to do that. That means developers are going to be able to make games smaller. Or at least fill the extra space by adding in more stuff.
Experiencing The New Engine!
You can't get this on the PS4.
Are you going to get a launch PS5? Or are you going to wait? What's going to be your trigger? Let us know in the comments!