Can PS4 fully handle the graphical power of Unreal Engine 5?
The short answer – PS4 can run Unreal Engine 5 games, but not at the same level of graphical fidelity as on PS5. Last-gen hardware faces limitations in leveraging UE5‘s bleeding-edge rendering technologies which target premium visuals. However, with performance considerations and feature downgrades, developers can ship visually-impressive PS4 titles on Epic‘s new engine.
As an avid gamer, I‘ve been blown away by early UE5 demos running on new consoles. The photorealism seeming almost CGI-like! Naturally I wondered – could my trusty PS4 even run such next-gen graphics? After deep analysis of Unreal‘s documentation, here‘s everything you need to know:
PlayStation 4‘s Hardware Limits UE5 Potential
First, let‘s recap PS4‘s now dated specs in the daunting context of UE5‘s visionary graphics:
- Jaguar CPU from 2013 – already sorely lacking for open worlds in late PS4 titles
- 1.84 TFLOP GPU – less than half the speed of PS5‘s custom RDNA 2 silicon
- 8 GB DDR5 RAM and HDD storage – cramped memory and snail-paced loading times
Compare this to PS5‘s blazing fast SSD, rich 16GB RAM pool and custom 3.5GHz Zen 2 CPUs paired with 10.3 TFLOP graphics. Night and day!
With such discrepancy in horsepower, PS4 strains to fully tap into UE5‘s polygon-packed Nanite meshes, filmic Lumen lighting and expensive Temporal Super Resolution upscaling.
In fact, Epic‘s Lumen in the Land of Nanite demo showcasing PS5 UE5 performance used over 1 billion polygons with details rivaling movie CGIs! Clearly no chance of that monstrous geometric load running smoothly on base PS4.
But Scalability Allows for PS4 Support
Despite such daunting technical constraints, Unreal Engine 5‘s slick scalability enables PS4 support with the right optimization tradeoffs:
| UE5 Feature | Support on PS4 | Limitations |
|---|---|---|
| Nanite | Limited Use | Lower detail models with fewer polygons |
| Lumen | Yes | Fewer dynamic light sources, reduced reflections |
| Temporal AA | No | Post Process AA instead |
Epic has put strong emphasis on next-gen with UE5‘s capabilities, so expect graphical fidelity and resolutions to take a noticeable hit on PS4. Level of detail draw distance will likely suffer too given the platform‘s weak CPUs struggling with open world games even in late PS4 lifecycle titles.
However, with some compromise, PS4 can deliver UE5 games at solid 30 FPS targeting 1080p resolution and pared back but still spectacular lighting versus PS5 exclusives. Ambitious indies may push 60 FPS for less complex projects.
Real-World UE5 PS4 Projects Show Promise…With Caution
Small team indie studio Carbonated Dreams recently announced Dreamhouse, an UE5 game targeting PS4/Xbox One alongside next-gen hardware and PC. This proves UE5‘s readiness for true cross-generational development.
However, Carbonated did warn "there may be some features we won‘t be able to bring to older platforms". Truly maxing out UE5 requires cutting-edge silicon likely leaving PS4 versions sticking to simpler scenes or stylized graphics.
For comparison, Matrix Awakens represents an UE5 technical ceiling far beyond grasp of even PS4 Pro hardware. This Sony-commissioned, film-quality demo with 400K object city, volumetric lighting and RTX reflection overhaul sensibly focused just on PS5 and Series X/S.
So in closing, game creators have newfound freedom to realize highly scalable visions across generations with Unreal Engine 5 as the impeccable foundation. But PlayStation 4 itself remains the limiting factor, forever stuck throughout this upcoming decade of gaming progress.
Hope you enjoyed this detailed breakdown! Let me know if you have any other questions around UE5 capabilities – happy to chat more via comments!
