PS4 Support Fades as Major Multiplayer Developers Shift Fully to Next-Gen

The end of the PlayStation 4 era is near, and the industry seems ready to move on. Sources say that several multiplayer studios have already decided that 2025 will be the year they officially stop using Sony's hardware, which has been around for ten years. As the PS5 gets older and the PS6 gets closer, developers are quickly weighing the pros and cons of keeping backwards compatibility versus moving forward.

One of the most important confirmations comes from Embark Studios, whose popular competitive multiplayer game The Finals will no longer work on PS4 by the end of this year. The studio says that development conditions are getting harder and harder, and that features, visual upgrades, and performance improvements can no longer work with the older system's limitations.

The difference between the PS4 and PC/PS5 versions of The Finals is too big to justify spending more money on it. The PS4 version only runs at 30 FPS, while the PC and PS5 versions get major graphical upgrades. The change is part of a trend that started earlier this year when PUBG also stopped supporting the game. This means that The Finals is now another big name that has left.

When you look at the players, the situation becomes clearer. According to the sources that looked at the number of active players, The Finals has about 9,000 daily players on Steam right now. Crossplay keeps the ecosystem together, and the numbers are still good, but not large enough to justify spending more on PS4 optimization.

As the number of players on last-gen hardware declines, it becomes easier for developers to focus on making the next-gen versions better, which is what the game is all about. People in the community have had different reactions to this moment. Some PS4 owners are upset that they can't play anymore, but others point out that almost five years of continued support for older consoles is a lot more than most consoles get.

The PS4 has already lived longer than expected, mostly because of the slow transition period caused by global hardware shortages and the strange overlap between the PS5 and PS4 markets. But technology keeps moving forward, and even the PS4 Pro is having a harder time running modern games at acceptable levels of performance.

Timing is what makes this phase so strange.

A lot of people who didn't buy a PS5 early because of shortages now have a problem: should they buy a PS5 late in its life cycle or wait for the PS6, which is said to be coming out in just two years? Analysts say that even though it's not the best time to buy a PS5, doing so now will still give you support for several years, even into the next generation, so you won't fall behind again.

Black Friday and other holiday sales make this transition period even better for anyone who is still holding on to the PS4 era.

The studio's commitment to fast updates, high-speed action, and large-scale destruction like in classic Battlefield games is reflected in the move toward next-gen focus for The Finals. The sources say that the current event with rocket-launcher and grenade-launcher loadouts shows how quickly the developers are adding new modes and experimental features.

As a free-to-play game that only makes money from cosmetic items and battle passes, it is important for long-term growth to keep the environment smooth, responsive, and visually interesting. That speed needs hardware that can keep up. The end of PS4 support doesn't mean that games are getting smaller; it's a sign that the industry is moving forward.

Analysts think that by the end of 2026, almost all major multiplayer games will have fully moved away from the PS4. More studios are likely to follow. It's a choice based on what is technically necessary, what is cost-effective, and the fact that a console that came out in 2013 can't always keep up with the demands of modern game design.

The PS4 leaves behind a legacy that will be hard for Sony to beat: a generation full of unforgettable exclusives, better online services, and a level of polish that changed what people expect from consoles. But because of hardware limits, this chapter is coming to an end so that the next one can begin.

How long will PS4 users hold out before they switch to next-gen exclusives as more developers weigh in and more games move to next-gen exclusives?