PlayStation 4

The PlayStation 4 (officially abbreviated as PS4) is a home video game console from Sony Computer Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 during a press conference on 20 February 2013, it was launched on 15 November 2013 in North America, and 29 November 2013 in Europe and Australia. It competes with Nintendo's Wii U and Microsoft's Xbox One, as one of the eighth generation of video game consoles.

Moving away from the more complex Cell architecture of its predecessor, the PlayStation 4 features an AMD x86-64 Accelerated Processing Unit, in hopes of attracting a broader range of developers and support for the system. The PlayStation 4's GPU can perform 1.843 teraflops. Sony calls the PlayStation 4 "the world's most powerful console" and, speaking to Edge magazine, numerous game developers described the performance difference between the PS4 and Xbox One as "'significant' and 'obvious'".

Sony intends more focus on social gameplay, incorporating a "share" button on the new controller and enabling a view of in-game play streamed live from friends. The console enables interactivity with other services and devices through the following methods: PlayStation Now, a cloud-based gaming service that offers streaming video game content; PlayStation App, designed to enhance gameplay by using smartphones and tablets as a second screen; and PlayStation Vita's design for playing a majority of PlayStation 4 games through wireless Remote Play.

During the 2014 fiscal year, demand for PS4 helped Sony top global console sales.