Sony · 2013–

SonyPlayStation 4

The generation that went huge: Bloodborne, God of War, Persona 5, Spider-Man, Horizon. Black-label and Hits editions.

[n] PS4 games available

Shop all PS4 games Explore the highlights

Why it mattered

The comeback console that learned every lesson from the PS3

After the $599 years, Sony did the simple things: a PC-style architecture developers understood on day one, a $399 price that undercut the Xbox One by a hundred dollars, and an E3 2013 presentation whose biggest cheer was for the promise that used discs would keep working. The PS4 launched in November 2013, sold a million units in its first 24 hours in North America, and never gave the lead back. Its studios then produced the strongest first-party run Sony has had — Bloodborne, Horizon, God of War, Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part II.

For a collector the PS4 is where physical media started getting interesting again. Printed manuals were already gone, so a case with just the disc is complete as issued. What matters instead is the print: Day One and Launch Edition stickers mark first runs, PlayStation Hits reprints wear a red band, and the boutique labels — Limited Run, Strictly Limited, Super Rare — put small numbered runs of digital-only games onto discs that sold out in an afternoon. The console is region-free, so Japanese and European prints play fine here. We photograph every case and disc.

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Fast facts

ReleasedNovember 15, 2013 (North America; Japan waited until 2014)
Launch price$399 — $100 under the Xbox One
MediaBlu-ray Disc; every game installs to the hard drive
Units sold~117 million worldwide, second only to the PS2
Best sellerGrand Theft Auto V — its second console, still No. 1
Did you know?At E3 2013 Microsoft had just explained the Xbox One's daily online check-ins and used-game restrictions. Sony's Jack Tretton took the stage, said PS4 discs could be lent, sold and played offline, and got a standing ovation. The follow-up "official used game instructional video" — Shuhei Yoshida handing a disc to a colleague — ran 22 seconds.
Did you know?The PS4 launched in North America on November 15, 2013 and in Europe two weeks later, but Japan did not get it until February 22, 2014 — the first time a PlayStation home console launched in Sony's home market last. Sony said the delay was to build up a Japanese software lineup; the console never matched the PS2's numbers there.
Did you know?Mark Cerny, the PS4's lead system architect, also directed Knack, one of its launch titles. Cerny had produced Crash Bandicoot and Spyro in the 1990s, and Knack was his attempt at a PS4 game for families; it was reviewed as a footnote and sold well enough in Japan to get a sequel in 2017.
Did you know?Three models exist: the original 2013 console, the 2016 Slim, and the PS4 Pro launched in November 2016 for 4K and HDR. Games that took advantage of the Pro carry a "PS4 Pro Enhanced" badge on the back of the case — the first time a PlayStation box had to tell you which console you owned.
Did you know?PlayStation Hits, the PS4's answer to Greatest Hits, launched in 2018 at $19.99 with a red band across the top of the case. Because PS4 games never shipped with manuals, the Hits reprint is often identical inside; the difference is entirely on the outside, which is why we photograph the front and spine of every case.
Did you know?The PS4 is region-free, and that mattered more than it ever had: when a Western publisher went digital-only, a boxed English-language copy often still existed as an "Asia" release from Hong Kong or Singapore, or as a Japanese disc with an English option. Only downloadable content is tied to the account's store region.
Did you know?Limited Run Games started in 2015 with a run of Breach & Clear on Vita and PS4, and by the end of the generation the PS4 had the largest library of boutique physical prints of any console: numbered runs, usually a few thousand copies, of games that were otherwise download-only. Most sold out in minutes and never reprinted.
Did you know?PlayStation VR launched in October 2016 at $399 — the same price as the console — and Sony announced five million headsets sold by the start of 2020. The VR discs look like any other PS4 game, so check the front of the case: a game that requires the headset says so in a blue band.

Find your next PS4 game

Start with a familiar favorite, explore a theme, or browse by what’s included.

Counts are listings in stock — the same game can appear more than once in different packaging.

The grails

GalGun, Code: Realize, Grand Kingdom, Shredder's Revenge, the Disgaea and Neptunia runs — the niche Japanese and boutique prints whose numbers only go one way.

Only on PlayStation

God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Ghost of Tsushima, Uncharted 4, Bloodborne, Spider-Man, Ratchet & Clank — the studios Sony spent a decade building, all paying off at once.

Region-free in practice

PAL and Japanese prints — the PS4 does not care where a disc came from, and neither do we, as long as the photo shows the case.

Ubisoft's annual

Unity, Origins, Valhalla, Mirage — Assassin's Creed grew from a 20-hour stealth game into a 100-hour Viking saga without anyone deciding to.

Sega, back from the dead

Lost Judgment, Yakuza Remastered, Persona, Sonic Colors Ultimate, Shining Resonance, Sakura Wars — the company that lost the console war and won the PS4.

Remasters, remakes and collections

FFX again, Tomb Raider again, Spyro again, Marvel vs. Capcom again — the generation that replayed its own childhood at 1080p.

Square Enix, on a disc

Final Fantasy XV, Dissidia NT, Dragon Quest Heroes II, Life Is Strange, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Outriders — the publisher that owns both Cloud Strife and Lara Croft.

Bethesda

Doom, Doom Eternal, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Quake, Wolfenstein, Dishonored 2 — the id Software back-catalog and the games that gave it a publisher.

Capes and cowls

LEGO Batman 3, Injustice, Batman: Arkham Knight, Marvel's Spider-Man, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy — the superhero shelf, DC and Marvel sharing a spine.

Health bars

Mortal Kombat X, Injustice 2, Guilty Gear Xrd, Granblue Fantasy Versus, Marvel vs. Capcom, Blazing Strike — a generation of fighters with rollback netcode arguments to match.

The anime shelf

Dragon Ball Z Kakarot, Sword Art Online, Fate/Extella, Seven Deadly Sins, Naruto, One Piece, My Hero Academia — Bandai Namco's license department, working overtime.

Things in the dark

Friday the 13th, The Quarry, Resident Evil, Until Dawn, Outlast, Alien: Isolation, The Bunker, Hunt: Showdown — survival horror at 60 frames a second, which does not help.

Iron sights

Battlefield 1, Black Ops III, Rainbow Six Siege, The Division, Doom, Overwatch, Destiny, Star Wars Battlefront — the shooters that kept the PS4's servers warm for eight years.

Scoreboards and finish lines

Madden, MLB The Show, NBA 2K, Everybody's Golf, Super Mega Baseball, FIFA, NHL, WWE 2K — the sports shelf, priced by how many years ago the roster was.

Couch multiplayer

Just Dance, Among Us, Screencheat, Super Bomberman R 2, Rabbids, Overcooked, Jackbox, Rocket League — games for the four people on the sofa, not the twelve in the lobby.

The petting zoo

Escape Goat 2. Speedollama. Spirit of the North. Spyro. Sonic. Rabbids. Sly. Ratchet. If the protagonist has fur, feathers or hooves, it is shelved here and nobody can stop us.

Bring the kids

The Smurfs, Avatar, Transformers, LEGO Dimensions, Spyro Reignited, Rabbids, Just Dance — the licensed shelf a seven-year-old can be trusted with.

Small prints, big pixels

Limited Run, Strictly Limited, Super Rare, Red Art — the boutique labels that put digital-only games on a disc, a few thousand at a time, numbered, gone by lunch.

The 100-hour save file

The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Divinity, Pillars of Eternity, Kingdom Come, Disciples, Dragon Age: Inquisition — the RPGs that ate a winter, and the one where Roach ended up on a roof.

Otome and visual novels

Code: Realize, Steins;Gate Elite, Collar x Malice, Piofiore, Danganronpa, AI: The Somnium Files — the shelf where reading is the gameplay and the box art is the point.

Virtual reality, actual discs

Accounting+, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Beat Saber, Blood & Truth — PSVR games, for the headset that lives in your closet.

Some kind of Edition

Deluxe, Ultimate, Day One, Launch, Best Buy, Ultimate Slasher, Ultimate Evil, Mythic, Steelbook — the PS4 never sold you a game when it could sell you an Edition.

SonyPlayStation 4

The comeback console that learned every lesson from the PS3