Why does the PS5 not support 1440p?

[Kotze282]

So it has been pretty much confirmed now that the PS5 does not support 1440p output, at least not at launch.
I realize that 1080p and 4K are the resolutions most screens and TVs have nowadays but there has still been a substantial amount of people asking about 1440p support in the past weeks, which leads me to believe that it is a highly requested feature. XBOX will support and has supported 1440p output even "last gen", so that also goes to show that people care about this.

The reason I opened this thread is:
Why does Sony seem to not care about this (albeit small) share of the market? Many games on PS4 Pro for example run at 1440p anyways and I am assuming some performance modes for PS5 games will as well. It also can't be in Sony's interest that the PS5 will downsample from 4K to 1080p only for it to be then upscaled to 1440p by the screen again? Wouldn't it be better, even on a technical level, to just downsample to 1440p outright?

Sony's silence on this leads me to believe that there is some reason other than "they just didn't get to it yet". What could that be? Something technical? Do they just want to sell 4K TVs?

Edit: Okay, so most people seem to be answering "it's not a priority" or "not enough people have 1440p screens". But then it is also not like they need to "engineer" anything for 1440p output, as far as I understand it is something they could just enable easily. Doesn't make sense not to, even if not many consumers actually care.

Edit2: We get it, it's only a tiny niche amount of consumers who want 1440p. Assuming it would take Sony next to no effort to implement it, why wouldn't they?

 

[dodmaster]

Because they have TVs to sell. But also because like you mentioned, it's a small share of the market.

 

[Transistor]

Sony is about the living room, essentially, which means pretty much just supporting TV resolutions. That's about it. And, honestly, the amount of 1440p users is extremely small in the grand scheme of things.

And yes, while some people will bring up that some 4K TVs support 1440p at 120hz, that's still not a standard TV resolution.

 

[Raigor]

They think people only play on TVs and not monitors and that's why they don't care about support 1440p.

Sony is also making 4K TVs and they want to sell more of them.

 

[Vashetti]

Because Sony aren't in the PC monitor market.

 

[Alienhated]

Looks like they just considered it a niche hardcore feature that most people won't actually use, hopefully they'll patch this feature in the future.
No need to go into the "what are they hiding" territory.

 

[Pankratous]

Sony is about the living room, essentially, which means pretty much just supporting TV resolutions. That's about it. And, honestly, the amount of 1440p users is extremely small in the grand scheme of things.

Click to shrink...

Nailed it.

They'll probably be able to add it in later, but it's easy to see why it hasn't been a priority.

 

[Tohsaka]

The vast majority of people play their consoles on TVs, and 1440p is not a TV resolution.

 

[Diogo Arez]

Because Sony needs to sell 4K TVs

 

[Deleted member 9584]

PS5 seems to lack a lot of video output options at the moment. I am hopeful they had 1440p support when they patch in the advertised/promised VRR and 8K support.

 

[Kotze282]

Because they have TVs to sell. But also because like you mentioned, it's a small share of the market.

Click to shrink...

But it also is something relatively easy to implement, right? So why not do it?

 

[EffettoNotte]

Sony tv market share is small compared to other brands, so "they want to sell 4k TV" is not a valid point really
They simply don't care.

 

[Deleted member 1003]

No conspiracy required here, it's not a priority for them and they make 4K TVs.

 

[Syntsui]

They can still not care about monitor and just give the fucking option. No one is giving up on a TV for a monitor, they don't compete at all.

Sony deserves to get all the shit for this baffling decision.

 

[finalflame]

They think people only play on TVs and not monitors and that's why they don't care about support 1440p.

Sony is also making 4K TVs and they want to sell more of them.

Click to shrink...

They're not wrong. The vast majority of their customers, by a massive margin, are going to be playing on TVs which support 1080p/4K. They have limited engineering resources. Dedicating time to building 1440p support probably just doesn't make the cut for important launch features.

People saying "OH WELL THEY CAN JUST DO IT ANYWAY" still don't get that engineering resources are finite and when you have 10 other more important things to deliver that more than 0.5-2% of your user base would use, you work on those instead, and 1440p just doesn't get done. Unless a PM with a soft spot for 1440p support just happens to be working on prioritizing system features.

Microsoft gets the benefit of developing the XSX/XBO OS on what is essentially a branch of embedded Windows, which already brings support for things like PC resolutions.

I doubt "Sony wants to sell TVs" is a factor.

 

[dodmaster]

But it also is something relatively easy to implement, right? So why not do it?

Click to shrink...

Maybe they have other priorities. The system isn't exactly perfect and it's definitely something that could be patched in at a later date.

 

[Strings]

I realize that 1080p and 4K are the resolutions most screens and TVs have nowadays but there has still been a substantial amount of people asking about 1440p support in the past weeks, which leads me to believe that it is a highly requested feature.

Click to shrink...

That's your mistake basically. It's a fraction of this place, which is already a tiny fraction of their userbase. It sucks for folks with a 1440p monitor, but it's not at all a significant thing.

 

[Kotze282]

They can still not care about monitor and just give the fucking option. No one is giving up on a TV for a monitor, they don't compete at all.

Sony deserves to get all the shit for this baffling decision.

Click to shrink...

Yes. The consoles are rendering so many applications at 1440p internally anyways, so it's not like they need to "engineer" 1440p output first, right?

 

[The Third Heat]

If Sony was the only company selling 4K TVs, I'd buy that as an excuse. This just feels like this was something they weren't interested in having at launch. Keep pushing Sony, and I'm sure it'll be added in a firmware update.

 

[HStallion]

Because you're a bad person OP!

 

[ILikeFeet]

But it also is something relatively easy to implement, right? So why not do it?

Click to shrink...

Just as easy not to do ir

 

[SubTXT]

The vast majority of people play their consoles on TVs, and 1440p is not a TV resolution.

Click to shrink...

My understanding is that many PS4 Pro games actually play at 1440p in things like Digital Foundry tests. So have I essentially only been playing in 1080p on my 4K TV?

 

[VeryHighlander]

No conspiracy required here, it's not a priority for them and they make 4K TVs.

Click to shrink...

lol wut

 

[Euler007]

Because the majority of console gamers are either using 1080p TVs or 4K Tvs.

Because a bunch of very competent designers sat down to plan the design of the PS5, and crossed it off the list as an edge case not worth supporting.

Because three years from now most of PC gamers will be using decent 4K HDR monitors and QHD will be a half-step from the past.

 

[astro]

Massive omission, imo. Of course you can explain it from a corporate perspective, that doesn't make it ok.

 

[TripleBee]

Almost certainly more people will be playing on 1440p than 120hz TVs, which does make the order of prioritization slightly odd.

 

[Gestault]

It's another profile/scenario to test, and I do understand the desire to streamline their own working environment, even if it's annoying as heck for my setup.

(I personally consider it a big shortcoming because of the 120hz support this gen, but devs and the platform-holders are already covering a lot of ground)

 

[Koukalaka]

My understanding is that many PS4 Pro games actually play at 1440p in things like Digital Foundry tests. So have I essentially only been playing in 1080p on my 4K TV?

Click to shrink...

There's a difference between the game's internal resolution and what's being output on your screen.

This is a daft oversight by Sony, sure it doesn't impact the majority of those playing, but it's still a nice feature to have and I can't imagine it would have been too much of a hassle to implement if your console already recognises a number of resolutions?

 

[Ambient]

I have a 4K TV but I would have loved to hook my PS5 up to my high refresh 1440p monitor.

Is this something that can be patched later on or are we pretty much out of luck?

 

[SeeingeyeDug]

My TV supports 1440p at 120hz but 4K at only 60hz. TV. Not monitor. i want this feature.

 

[Koukalaka]

Because the majority of console gamers are either using 1080p TVs or 4K Tvs.

Because a bunch of very competent designers sat down to plan the design of the PS5, and crossed it off the list as an edge case not worth supporting.

Because three years from now most of PC gamers will be using decent 4K HDR monitors and QHD will be a half-step from the past.

Click to shrink...

I have my doubts. I think there will be a gradual shift but the vast majority of PC gamers would prefer to push graphical effects and higher frame rates over a 4K image. 1440p is really the sweet spot on a 27 - 32 inch monitor.

There's a reason 1080p was the norm for many, many years.

 

[JohnnyMoses]

I bet there are more people who want Knack 3 than there are who want 1440p as a supported output. I'm one of them. So, Sony, please make Knack 3 and forget about this 1440p nonsense.

 

[jett]

Sony's TVs don't support 1440p either.

They don't give a fuck as a whole. Might be some kind of bizarro company-wide mandate.

 

[jett]

It's another profile/scenario to test, and I do understand the desire to streamline their own working environment, even if it's annoying as heck for my setup.

(I personally consider it a big shortcoming because of the 120hz support this gen, but devs and the platform-holders are already covering a lot of ground)

Click to shrink...

No it's not. This is only about output display resolution, not anything the game is doing. It doesn't affect game developers at all. 1440p is part of the HDMI specification. This is Sony actively deciding to not support this.

 

[gothmog]

They might if people ask often enough. I have a 1440p/120+hz monitor so it would be nice to check out the PS5 running on it. I would totally understand if it wasn't a top priority, and I know there's things I really would like to happen before it (like using external HD with PS5 games for cold storage).

 

[JaseC64]

Is adding that option "difficult" in terms of implementation or are they just not ticking a checkbox on the software end?

I mean I get that they want to their consoles for the living room but cmon its 2020. More video out options are not a bad thing. I mean most Playstation owners don't own their expensive as shit TVs either. Who do they benefit? Lol.

One "CON" for Sony and Playstation for sure. No reason not to support it when your main competitor does.

 

[ThisOne]

I call bullshit on people saying it's because Sony wants to sell more of their own TVs.

I think it's ridiculous that it's not supported especially when you consider all the games that have a 1440p performance mode (even on PS4 Pro).

I hope Sony does the right thing here and patches it in some point soon. Not sure how difficult it is to implement but the fact that you can do it on a last gen Xbox but not on a brand new $500 Playstation is ridiculous. I realize that it doesn't affect everyone but adding the choice is a win for all consumers.

 

[Koukalaka]

Is adding that option "difficult" in terms of implementation or are they just not ticking a checkbox on the software end?

I mean I get that they want to their consoles for the living room but cmon its 2020. More video out options are not a bad thing. I mean most Playstation owners don't own their expensive as shit TVs either. Who do they benefit? Lol.

One "CON" for Sony and Playstation for sure. No reason not to support it when your main competitor does.

Click to shrink...

I suspect they'd need to do some work on things like scaling the UI, but other than that I'm not sure.

 

[Leo-Tyrant]

Sorry for the dumb questions.

• Wouldn't the games rendering at 1080p or 4K be able to be seen just as fine in a 1440p screen? Isn't this similar to running 4K content down-sampled to 1080p in ...1080p screens?
• What actually needs to happen to allow 1:1 1440p, what is the XBOX doing that Sony is not, from a technical perspective, what have they not added (hardware and software wise)?
• Wouldnt 4K downsampled at 1440p just be...smoother? Would we really need a 1440p option if 4K already runs great?
  

 

[entremet]

How well does their TV biz do? I remember there was guidance that they get out of that biz.

 

[Neoxon]

Sony is about the living room, essentially, which means pretty much just supporting TV resolutions. That's about it. And, honestly, the amount of 1440p users is extremely small in the grand scheme of things.

And yes, while some people will bring up that some 4K TVs support 1440p at 120hz, that's still not a standard TV resolution.

Click to shrink...

Which is weird since they actively support the FGC, who use monitors for tournaments.

 

[Deleted member 1003]

lol wut

Click to shrink...

What lol? It's not a priority for Sony. The console could handle 1440p.

 

[Koukalaka]

Sorry for the dumb questions.

• Wouldn't the games rendering at 1080p or 4K be able to be seen just as fine in a 1440p screen? Isn't this similar to running 4K content down-sampled to 1080p in ...1080p screens?
• What actually needs to happen to allow 1:1 1440p, what is the XBOX doing that Sony is not, from a technical perspective, what have they not added (hardware and software wise)?
• Wouldnt 4K downsampled at 1440p just be...smoother? Would we really need a 1440p option if 4K already runs great?

Click to shrink...

Kind of worse - my understanding is the PS4 Pro (and presumably the PS5) doesn't recognise it as a 1440p display, so it runs at 1080p before being upscaled by the display, which isn't ideal at all.

On the other hand, as the Xbox Series X/S does run at 1440p, you're presumably getting the full advantage of that display (including any content downsampled from 4K or whatever the resolution is).

 

[Josh378]

Guys, we need to complain to Sony and make a big deal out of it.

Like we did last gen with the PS4 to get Sony to add more features.

1440p needs to be a standard.

Gaming Computer screens for console owners is bliss.

Some people will not or don't have a 4K screen, and will plug the PS5 to their monitor screen.

1080p and 4K resolution should not be the only option.

 

[Gestault]

Sorry for the dumb questions.

• Wouldn't the games rendering at 1080p or 4K be able to be seen just as fine in a 1440p screen? Isn't this similar to running 4K content down-sampled to 1080p in ...1080p screens?
• What actually needs to happen to allow 1:1 1440p, what is the XBOX doing that Sony is not, from a technical perspective, what have they not added (hardware and software wise)?
• Wouldnt 4K downsampled at 1440p just be...smoother? Would we really need a 1440p option if 4K already runs great?

Click to shrink...

This issue is already present on the Pro, and basically since the system can't send out a 1440p signal at all, the only fallback resolution below 4K is 1080p. So if your display is 1440p (or you're in a video mode that relies on 1440p for a specific refresh rate), you're getting a 1080p image. That back-and-forth scaling makes it noticeably blurrier; Even if the system is internally rendering at 4K, you're only getting a 1080p image, blown up to fill the actual screen resolution. It's effectively the opposite of the normal benefits of super-sampling.

Microsoft put in the work to support the resolution natively in their OS, and Sony just hasn't yet. I can't think of any technical reason it can't be added, they just need to do it.

 

[Le Dude]

My TV supports 1440p at 120hz but 4K at only 60hz. TV. Not monitor. i want this feature.

Click to shrink...

This is what makes it weird to me. While it's uncommon, I have to imagine there is far more people out there with TVs that support 1440p 120hz, or with 1440p 144hz monitors, than there are with TVs that support 4K 120h, which means by not supporting it they will have a much harder time showing off 120fps at anything other than 1080p.

 

[Aurizen]

I read 1440p support can be made via an update. So maybe update 2.0 may bring that lol.

 

[Kliemie]

I call bullshit on people saying it's because Sony wants to sell more of their own TVs.

I think it's ridiculous that it's not supported especially when you consider all the games that have a 1440p performance mode (even on PS4 Pro).

I hope Sony does the right thing here and patches it in some point soon. Not sure how difficult it is to implement but the fact that you can do it on a last gen Xbox but not on a brand new $500 Playstation is ridiculous. I realize that it doesn't affect everyone but adding the choice is a win for all consumers.

Click to shrink...

This right here...
Its all about consumer choice and lets chill out a bit on doing Sony's PR talk and let your voice be heard so they will hopefully add this option in the near future

 

[Kami]

Guys, we need to complain to Sony and make a big deal out of it.

Like we did last gen with the PS4 to get Sony to add more features.

1440p needs to be a standard.

Gaming Computer screens for console owners is bliss.

Some people will not or don't have a 4K screen, and will plug the PS5 to their monitor screen.

1080p and 4K resolution should not be the only option.

Click to shrink...

Crazy to me that they're touting 8k when they don't have 1440p. 8K probably won't be the standard for this entire generation. Hell, even 4k 120 won't be very common for a long time. There are way more 1440p users out there than 8k or 4k 120.

 

[snausages]

It's a shame and the main reason I cancelled my PS5 order. I'm not spending that sort of money on a 1080p 60fps machine when I can buy a 1440p 165hz GPU with more powerful RT performance.

Won't be buying a PS5 for a few years it looks like, probably when Final Fantasy releases