2013 · Sony · Japan · console
Sony PlayStation 4
The runaway winner of its generation, and the home of Bloodborne.
Mixed Fiddly ▶ Watch on YouTube ↗
Sony's 2013 console and the runaway winner of its generation, selling past a hundred million on the back of a straightforward, developer-friendly x86 design after the awkward and costly PlayStation 3.
FromSoftware's Bloodborne was its defining game — a Gothic nightmare that existed nowhere else and drove people to buy the machine for it alone.
Under the hood
- CPU
- AMD Jaguar — eight x86-64 cores @ 1.6 GHz
- Graphics
- AMD Radeon GCN, 18 compute units (1.84 TFLOPS); the PS4 Pro revision raised this to 4.2 TFLOPS with 4K output and HDR
- Memory
- 8 GB unified GDDR5
- Media
- Blu-ray / DVD discs; internal hard drive
Hardware revisions
| Model | Years | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| CUH-1000APS4 launch, original 'Fat' (Japan)Region encoded in the digits before the letter suffix; 00 = Japan | Feb 2014 | SAA-001 board, 500GB HDD, 8-core Jaguar CPU @1.6GHz, 18 CU GPU; Known issue: 'Blue Light of Death' (BLOD) affected some early CUH-1000/1001-generation units — Sony-acknowledged ~0.4% failure rate from APU solder-ball or RAM issues |
| CUH-1115APS4 'B-chassis'15 = US/Canada | 2014-2015 | SAB-001 board |
| CUH-1116BPS4 'B-chassis', 1TB variant16 = Europe/Middle East/Africa | 2015 | The trailing letter (A/B) denotes storage/hardware sub-revision, not region. |
| CUH-1200APS4 'C-chassis' | Jun 2015 | SAC-001 board |
| CUH-2000APS4 Slim (Japan)00 = Japan | Sept 2016 | 40% smaller than the original 'Fat' PS4, matte finish |
| CUH-2015BPS4 Slim, 1TB15 = US/Canada | 2017 | — |
| CUH-2016APS4 Slim16 = Europe/Middle East/Africa | 2016-2017 | — |
| CUH-7000PS4 Pro | Nov 2016 | NVA-001 board; 8-core CPU @2.13GHz, 36 CU GPU (4.2 TFLOPS), 4K output support |
What it cost
only about 8% of a month’s pay in 2016 · about $391 today
| US launch list price ($399) |
$399 (2013)
only about 11% of a month’s pay · about $537 in today's money |
|---|---|
| PS4 Slim street price ($299) | $299 (2016) |
| Units sold | 117,200,000 117.2 million units worldwide. |
What it's worth now
Moderate $120–180 standard, $150–220 Slim, $180–280 Pro
Still an active-use console rather than a scarce collectible; condition, storage size and included controllers move price more than the model does.
A guide to collectibility, not a valuation — real prices depend on condition, completeness and demand.
Why it mattered
The PS4 restored Sony's dominance after the PS3's stumble and became the home of a generation's defining single-player exclusives, from Bloodborne to God of War.
Emulating it today
| Emulators | shadPS4, fpPS4 |
|---|---|
| Setup effort | Fiddly (8.5 on this site's scale) |
| Controls | A standard modern controller covers the ordinary controls, though unusual accessories may need custom mapping. |
| Runs on a handheld | No — it needs a real machine |
The emulator names above are starting points, not a promise that every title or accessory behaves identically. Computer platforms usually add model selection, disk handling and keyboard setup even when CPU emulation itself is mature.
Firmware
This system needs no firmware file. Install an emulator, open a game, and it runs.
How many files you need: none to go and find. No separate firmware file is needed for an ordinary setup.
Firmware details checked 2026-08. Emulator requirements change — see Libretro documentation for the current list.
Where the software is
Preservation catalogues describe verified dumps; they do not grant permission to download commercial software. A curated, correctly matched set is easier to use than an undifferentiated archive.
Copyright: Commercial software remains copyrighted unless its owner explicitly released or relicensed it. Homebrew, public-domain programs and current reissues should be treated separately from abandoned commercial titles.
This site names preservation projects and explains what they are. It does not link to ROM downloads.
Where to start
- Bloodborne 2015 action RPG
FromSoftware's Gothic exclusive, and the console's defining game.
- God of War 2018 action
- The Last of Us Part II 2020 action adventure
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2018 action adventure
- Horizon Zero Dawn 2017 action RPG
- Ghost of Tsushima 2020 action adventure
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End 2016 action adventure
The verdict
A deep, recent library; emulation is early and demanding, and the console is still current enough to raise piracy questions.
Emulating hardware this recent is legally fraught and technically heavy — most people should play it on the console.
- Worth it if
- Players curious about sony playstation and willing to learn how the original machine worked.
- Not for
- Anyone who wants a large, instantly accessible library and no model, firmware or control decisions.
Scored 3/5 for fun today and 3/5 for historical importance. Those two scores decide the label at the top — a machine can matter enormously and still be no fun.
Read more & watch
This page is 75% complete against the facts we try to record for every system. Gaps are shown as gaps.