What happened to PS4 disc install speed?

[Pankratous]

At the beginning of this gen I distinctly remember Xbox One having the piss taken out of it for it's ridiculously long installs. PS4 by comparison was seconds to install any game, bar GTAV which was a notable outlier.

Here I am installing FFXV and it is going to take at least five entire minutes. Yeah five minutes isn't gonna kill me but it's a really long time compared to before. Same experience with AC:O a few weeks ago.

 

[Laserbeam]

Some games tell you they are done quick but are actually still installing quite slowly, I've noticed. I guess at least you get into (some) of the game, but it's a weird thing.

And yeah, a bunch just don't even seem to try and hide it these days.

 

[Yautja_Warrior]

Probably games getting bigger, so taking longer to install more data

 

[ciddative]

The process for PS4 is different from Xbox, which included downloads as part of the install progress (I think) which added to the perception of installs taking longer.

Plus games are generally bigger now. 5 minutes is nothing compared to the last few PS4 games I played

 

[edstub207]

Indeed.

Xbox = Disc + Patches at the same time.
PS4 = Disc then once complete patches.
PC/Digital ftw.

 

[CanUKlehead]

Seconds to install? Geez, maybe I only play big games cause install speeds on my X1 and PS4 have always been comparable, and slow at that.

Also, snarky answer: Christ, what a first world problem we have as gamers sometimes ;)

 

[Leedogg]

Read Dead Redemption 2 with its two installation discs take over 45 minutes if I remember correctly. That game in itself is 90 GBs. It's just the games getting bigger.

 

[Mr. Shakedown]

It never installed a full game in seconds. It installed enough to be playable and installed the rest while you played. Some games did this better than others but that's about the gist of it.

 

[JohnnyToonami]

Like others said it depends on the game. DQ11 was installed enough to play within a couple minutes, others in seconds. It's still better than XB1 install times.

 

[Creation_Scapes]

I definitely remember installing faster, maybe it's just our hard drive getting older :/ (still using launch day PS4)

 

[PunishedPrince]

I think at launch you needed to turn the Xbox One offline for it to install from the disc. At that point, it installed pretty quick. Otherwise, it would just download from the internet and you were at the mercy of your internet speed.

 

[Dphex]

At the beginning of this gen I distinctly remember Xbox One having the piss taken out of it for it's ridiculously long installs. PS4 by comparison was seconds to install any game, bar GTAV which was a notable outlier.

Click to shrink...

nope, they just showed a fast bar filling up, the game still installed in the background after that. often i´ve started games and they could be played but loading times were horrible and it was stuttering because the game was still installing in the background.

 

[SpaceCrystal]

If you think that's bad, just wait until both PS5 & Xbox Series X starts using quad-layer Blu-Ray discs for larger games. Install times are going to be even worse.

 

[Md Ray]

If you think that's bad, just wait until both PS5 & Xbox Series X starts using quad-layer Blu-Ray discs for even larger games. Install times are going to be even worse.

Click to shrink...

I believe installs from Disc to SSD will be a bit quicker compared to Disc to HDD installs.

Read Dead Redemption 2 with its two installation discs take over 45 minutes if I remember correctly. That game in itself is 90 GBs. It's just the games getting bigger.

Click to shrink...

Oh, man. I remember that pain.

 

[Hieroph]

5 minutes for a game as huge as FF15 is nothing. Also with all the patches and updates and stuff that FF15 got, it's lucky to be that low.

Easy solution, when you're going to play a game that isn't installed, just insert the disc a few minutes before playing in preparation. Doesn't hurt for the games that are super fast to install, but helps for the games that don't install instantly.

 

[Reinhard]

5 minutes is nothing, some PS4 games I couldn't play until like 30 minutes+ had passed. It was installing the game off disc fully which took time, followed by installing a patch which takes forever for some reason on PS4. I hate patching games on PS4, every other eco system is so much faster.

 

[Shopolic]

When I want to play a game for 20 hours to +100 hours, some minutes for installing isn't that important for me.

 

[xxracerxx]

With all game downloads/installs, I just start it and then walk away and do something else for awhile.

 

[Deleted member 11008]

I'm pretty sure 5 minutes is not for the full installation. If you are still reading your disc drive after boot up the game then the work is still don't finished.

 

[the-pi-guy]

It varies a lot per game.

Spiderman took me like 30 or 40 minutes to install. A lot of games start in just a few minutes.

 

[DrDeckard]

5 minutes lol. I installed something the other month from disk. Might have been death stranding and it took aaaages

 

[xinoart]

Indeed.

Xbox = Disc + Patches at the same time.
PS4 = Disc then once complete patches.
PC/Digital ftw.

Click to shrink...

Well that's just plain false. Once you put in the disc on the PS4, it'll start to install and download the patches at the same time.

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

It does seem like nowadays not very many games make use of that feature to start playing while it finishes. Maybe it's just the games I prefer being to large Idk.

 

[Joffy]

In really tired in general go long everything takes on ps4 now. Maybe it's rose tinted spectacles but everything seemed so much snappier at launch. 'copying update' kills me every time. Bring on ps5

 

[Renfran]

FFXV is over 100GB. I've played PS4 games that install in mere seconds because they're small. What were you expecting? The bigger the game longer the install. I mean, I really thought this was obvious.

 

[edstub207]

Well that's just plain false. Once you put in the disc on the PS4, it'll start to install and download the patches at the same time.

Click to shrink...

If that's the case then damn PSN is slower at downloading stuff that I thought previously.

 

[Max|Payne]

If that's the case then damn PSN is slower at downloading stuff that I thought previously.

Click to shrink...

Has been a problem since PS3.

PS4 improved things in some ways but the download speed has always been mediocre.

 

[Eoin]

The PS4 games that "installed" in seconds weren't installing in seconds. They were installing enough of the game to boot up and start playing, and then the rest of the install was happening in the background. PS4 and Xbox One installation times have always been comparable, the difference was that PS4 games often (not always) let you start the game quickly while Xbox One games made you wait for the installation to be completed.

I believe installs from Disc to SSD will be a bit quicker compared to Disc to HDD installs.

Click to shrink...

Blu-ray drive speeds are going to be the bottleneck.

 

[Adamska]

Some games will launch even if they aren't completely installed, but a game that's online only cannot be played as such. Some games even allow you to prioritize installing either singleplayer or multiplayer modes.

 

[EvilBoris]

The PS4 games that "installed" in seconds weren't installing in seconds. They were installing enough of the game to boot up and start playing, and then the rest of the install was happening in the background. PS4 and Xbox One installation times have always been comparable, the difference was that PS4 games often (not always) let you start the game quickly while Xbox One games made you wait for the installation to be completed.


Blu-ray drive speeds are going to be the bottleneck.

Click to shrink...

yeah, the PS4's Blu Ray drive is rated at 6x (27MBps) so a full 50GB game is a minimum of 30 minutes at peak speed

 

[Max|Payne]

yeah, the PS4's Blu Ray drive is rated at 6x (27MBps) so a full 50GB game is a minimum of 30 minutes at peak speed

Click to shrink...

Would it be feasible in terms of price to use 16x BR drives for the new consoles?

 

[Eoin]

Would it be feasible in terms of price to use 16x BR drives for the new consoles?

Click to shrink...

It might be. I'm not sure either Sony or Microsoft would go for a higher cost drive though, since both probably figure that discs will be a secondary medium next generation.

 

[xinoart]

yeah, the PS4's Blu Ray drive is rated at 6x (27MBps) so a full 50GB game is a minimum of 30 minutes at peak speed

Click to shrink...

While being true, most of the times, the bluray has redudant information stored to fill the disc to capacity. I've had very few games that install from disc that take longer than 10 minutes for a full install. Something about filling the entire disc with data makes it read faster.