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Sony vows to improve game downloading for PS4

Sony is working hard to make sure the PS4 doesn't suffer from the same downloading issues as the PS3.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
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Joe Svetlik
2 min read

Some eager gamers snaffling Grand Theft Auto V digitally from the PlayStation Network reported some download and installation issues last week. Which perhaps isn't surprising, seeing as the game clocks in at a hefty 18GB. Not to mention the fact the servers may have been wheezing a bit, seeing as it set a new record for first-day sales.

But for the PS4, Sony is working hard to iron out such issues.

Downloading games is only going to become more popular, so Sony is focussing on improving it as a delivery method, Sony Computer Entertainment's UK managing director Fergal Gara told Eurogamer. He pointed to the Play as you Download feature, which lets you get your game on before you've piped the whole file to your console.

But it's not just getting the game to your console that's the problem. Some gamers playing the digital version of GTA V -- which runs completely from the hard drive, instead of using the game disc and the hard drive in tandem -- reported some pop-up issues, the likes of which I thought went out with the N64.

Gara suggested more testing may be needed on these digital-only versions. But he said the new generation of consoles should minimise the issue.

"Some of the problems have occurred on older machines," he said, "which of course when you go into the next generation you at least get to reset and start again and everything's the same age and new. That helps."

He added that PlayStation Network isn't just a way of selling or delivering games, but is increasingly a social network too, so it's all the more annoying if it goes down. "So it's got to be a compelling experience on multiple levels," he said.

Though Gara admitted there's a way to go before it's a completely seamless way of playing games. "It's going to be for no lack of investment, for no lack of effort and no lack of intention that things might fall a bit short," he said. "But we're definitely moving in the right direction, and I'm confident we step on and understand its importance."

Did you have any issues with downloading GTA V? Were you upset at having to wait, instead of getting it bang on launch day, as promised? What about these pop-up issues? Let me know in the comments below, or head over and carjack our Facebook page.