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Top 20 Facts You Probably Didn't Know About the PS4

Think you know this oddly-shaped classic console? Make sure you swot up on this game-changing gaming device with our epic list of 20 Playstation 4 facts!

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Beano Facts Team
Last Updated:  August 21st 2023

When the Playstation 4 came out, it changed a lot of things. It turned gaming consoles into whole-family entertainment devices, it invented new technologies and brought all kinds of new fun stuff into our homes. The gaming world has never been the same since! PS4s have stood the test of time and are still played a lot today - do you have one?

Find out how much you know about this game-changing Playstation and swot up on some of these action-packed gaming facts! But if this isn't your favourite console, you can always check out these fact lists instead! We've got Nintendo facts, Rocket League facts, Minecraft facts and much more on our main page! Check it out!

1. PS4's are pretty old now!

The Playstation 4 came out in 2013 - which for something that still looks so good, is actually a really long time ago! When it came out it totally changed the world of gaming, and it took Sony another 7 years to bring out the PS5. So the PS4 stood the test of time!

2. It's a parallelogram

It's a what?? A parallelogram is an odd type of shape, it's like a slanted rectangle. The top bit is angled upwards so the power and eject buttons are easier to press, and the back of the system slopes downwards to help hide the cables. Does it work? You tell us!

3. The controllers are pretty fancy

When the console came out, the new controllers were a big deal. They vibrate, are wireless, and have their own in-built speakers! This is to add new dimensions to the gaming experience - and whilst we might be used to stuff like this these days, it was a big deal at the time!

4. It's got a big brain!

The PS4 is really powerful! It was built with state-of-the-art stuff when it was built. You'll have to believe us on this one! If you really want the nerdy stuff though, The GPU is an AMD Radeon-based graphics engine that is capable of making 1.84 trillion calculations per second!

5. You can't play PS3 games on it!

Older Playstations could play the games of the version that came before it - but because the PS4 was so advanced it wouldn't work that way. This got a lot of people who weren't fans of the Playstation a bit anmoyed... like Xbox fans! But more on that in a moment!

6. It's rival was the Xbox!

Sony and Microsoft have always been rivals when it's come to their consoles. And many friends have argued about which one is better! Each of them are always trying to to come up with new ideas, and it isn't long before the other one comes up with something even better. Whilst Sony and Microsoft do annoy each other, it means they have a reason to keep improving things!

7. Lots of indie games

Octodad: Dadliest Catch | Young Horses

More than their big rivals at Xbox, Playstation has always been up for supporting independent game makers. Which is why some of the games on Playstation are maybe that bit weirder than on Xbox. Just look at Ray's the Dead, Transistor, or our favourite - Octodad: Dadliest Catch!

8. Sharing the fun!

The PS4 made sharing those amazing gaming moments super easy. By pushing a special button on the controller, you can share your best moves and funniest fails with your friends. This is yet another thing that's normal now - but it was the PS4 that first did it!

9. And movies!

The Playstation tried to become thefirst console to be a kind of multi-media system. Why use anything else? And by being able to use the console to watch movies via streaming apps like Netflix, it finally cracked it! This was ground-breaking at the time!

10. The first VR Playstation?

A woman in a virtual reality headset laughing at a sandwich

Playstation built in a lot of new features into the PS4 - even before it was obvious how useful they would be. One of those was setting up cameras and microphones to help track the movement of gamers when playing VR type games. This technology was pretty young at the time, but despite the cameras having pretty bad resolution, it worked really well!

11. La Vita Loca

Sony

Another amazing feature is being able to link your Playstation Vita (a much smaller handheld gaming device) to the PS4. This could then double up as a spare controller for multiplayer games, and could be used as a second screen. So you could even play whilst hiding under the bed or from round a corner!

12. A lot of people bought PS4s!

When it first came out the PS4 became the fastest selling console with 1 million units sold on launch day! This huge number didn't slow down much either - and by 2017 55 million PS4s had been sold! That's a lot of gaming, and a lot of happy gamers all of the world!

13. They blew the Xbox out the water!

Unfortunately for Microsoft - every Playstation customer is one less Xbox owner! And over the same time Xbox sold a bit under HALF what Playstation sold. Too bad! This will be for a bunch of reasons, but the people seem to have chosen. Does anyone feel sorry for Microsoft yet? Nope!

14. It's cheaper than buying a computer

If you wanted to run the same kind of games on a desktop computer as on a Playstation, you'd have to spend a lot more money. Because Playstation focusses so much on games, they have that tech fine-tuned, and can do it pretty cheaply too. You'd also need all kinds of accessories for a computer gaming station too - the PS4 has it all built in!

15. Mega esports

PS4 games like "Street Fighter V" and "Rocket League" were so popular that gamers held big tournaments where the best players fought. It's like watching the Olympics, but with video games! The PS4s technology made events like this more exciting than ever before!

16. Some games are just for Playstation

A goat and some gaming controllers

Sony has another trick up it's sleeve when it comes to beating Microsoft: exclusive games! The PS4 has games that you can only play on it, like "The Last of Us Part II" and "Horizon Zero Dawn." These games are extra special! Sorry again, Xbox owners!

17. What's better than a PS4?

...A PS4 Pro, of course! There's an even more powerful version of the PS4 called the PS4 Pro. It has twice as much graphics processing pwer, which makes games look even more amazing on big TVs! You can also get it in a cool white colour. Oooooh. Fancy!

18. Playstation for everyone!

Some very smart gaming companies have built special controllers for people with different disabilities, so everyone can have a chance to play. Sony have added extra settings and features to help people of all abilities play Playstation, too! Which is exactly what a company should be doing for it's fans!

19. It's not fruit

Well... a smart (or stupid) shoplifter managed to pinch a PS4 in France by taking it the self-service checkout and weighing it as if it was a big bit of fruit. He got away with it... but was caught the next day when he tried to do it AGAIN! Ok, definitely stupid... why would you need 2?

20. PS4 made the PS5 what it is today

Whilst the PS4 is still going strong, the successes and failures of it helped Sony design the 5th version of the console. Hopefully, they'll keep making consoles better, and so they'll keep up with all the new gaming technologies that are coming out all the tine. But with all the work being done to make better and better Playstations - we hope people remember to just have fun on the one they have!