Explained: why the PS4 jumped from 4GB of RAM to 8GB

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PlayStation 4 originally had 4GB of RAM, before Sony bumped it up to 8GB. Key members of Knack’s development team have explained their part in why the number went up.

It follows Matt’s blog in defence of Knack, following a string of poor reviews when it launched alongside PS4 in November. As it happens, not everyone thinks it’s a bad game.

Now, in an interview with Inside Games – translated via DualShockers – Senior Producer Yosuke Watanabe, Outsourcing Manager Seiichiro Funayama, Game Director Takamitsu Ijima, Lead Artist Yoshiaki Yamaguchi and Lead Programmer Tsuyoshi Murakami gave their post mortem insight into Knack’s development.

Ijima explained that because Knack was developed early as a PS4 launch title, many of the console’s specific specs weren’t known to the team at the start, and this led the team to ask Sony many questions about what it was working towards.

Murakami stated that the PS4′s increase from 4GB to 8GB of RAM was approved during that line of questioning. He said that the Knack team were involved in those hardware discussions and asked for the RAM increase after learning that Sony was going to rest on 4GB. The company agreed, and that’s effectively why the console is the way it is today. It was quite a simple decision, it seems.

The team also explain Knack’s final state, and blame inconsistencies with its assets and visual presentation on outsourcing. Shoring off workload to other teams was necessary for the group to achieve what it wanted in time for the PS4 launch, and although reviews were negative, the developers revealed that hey have since heard warm feedback from parents and older gamers alike.

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Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: http://www.vg247.com/2014/06/24/ps4-sony-8gb-ram-explained-why-the-jumped-from/

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"Explained: why the PS4 jumped from 4GB of RAM to 8GB" :: Login/Create an Account :: 35 comments

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XsplayPosted:

The amount of ram in the new gen console is the only thing I have not criticized 8gb should last up to 5 years

AR15Posted:

8GB of ram should help quite a bit. Should have went with that in the first place.

EstablishedGamingPosted:

Glad they decided to go with 8GB (tight bas_tards)
The overall performance would have been terrible.

HeiPosted:

Well, sigh... Being an Xbox One owner I wish we had more things to brag about.

SakiPosted:

DeluxeHazard Nothing is wrong with that since more RAM means better processing.


More RAM does not = better processing.

SakiPosted:

GTXPlayer Wow pretty shocking, it seems that they went with 4GB at first. I think they should have had 16GB imo because the games are changing quickly ni terms of RAM. It never used to be that way but now the minimum Requirement for the Oustanding graphical games is pushing 5GB. I don't even think the consoles have 5GB to use as it's reserved for the system.

I think both parties will release a firmware update which allows the RAM to be shared between OS and Games. At least I hope.


RAM being as expensive as it is nowadays, putting 16gbs of RAM in a console is next to pointless.

DeluxeHazardPosted:

Nothing is wrong with that since more RAM means better processing.

GTXPlayerPosted:

Wow pretty shocking, it seems that they went with 4GB at first. I think they should have had 16GB imo because the games are changing quickly ni terms of RAM. It never used to be that way but now the minimum Requirement for the Oustanding graphical games is pushing 5GB. I don't even think the consoles have 5GB to use as it's reserved for the system.

I think both parties will release a firmware update which allows the RAM to be shared between OS and Games. At least I hope.

SakiPosted:

DiamondDoctor common sense, here. more ram=better generally speaking


Faster RAM = better. 8gbs would be the maximum amount of RAM for a gaming console, even 8gbs on a PC would be the sweet spot, you don't need boat loads of RAM like people tend to believe, and after about 8gbs, the benefit from the extra RAM is so small it's not worth the money.

MaggardoPosted:

Better to have 8GB's of ram, than just 4. It doesn't seem like 4gbs would have done well at all, especially compared to 8gbs.