PlayStation 4 (PS4), released in 2013, is Sony’s home video game console series. It is one of the most popular consoles today and is currently 4th on the list of best-selling consoles of all time.
Perhaps the main reason why PS4 is so popular is because of the PS4-exclusive games. It’s no wonder why many developers are trying to create PS4 emulators for PCs, specifically windows. If you are looking for a PS4 emulator, we compiled a list of the best ones currently available and under Windows development.
- PCSX4
PCSX4 is a PS4 emulator that’s just developed recently. It is one of the first few applications that can allow you to play PS4 on your Windows PC. It is still in its experimental stage, but it already has more than 290,000 downloads.
PCSX4 has exceptional quality in terms of graphics. It can run games up to 60 frames per second, and it utilizes Vulkan, DirectX 12, and OpenGL for API rendering. The downside to this emulator is that it only works on high-end PCs. Your computer must have at least a quad-core processor for this emulator to work. It also requires powerful GPU systems such as GTX 60, AMD Radeon 780, or others equal or greater in power.
Another important thing to note is that PCSX4 is currently compatible only with 64-bit Windows 7/8/8.1/10 and MacOS 10.13.6 or higher. The good news is that this emulator is currently open-source, which means that there’s a high chance that it’ll get better in the future.
- PS4Emus
The next PS4 emulator on this list is PS4Emus. One of the best things about PS4Emus is that it supports both mobile and desktop devices. It is compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. This allows great flexibility and convenience since you can play both on your PC or with your mobile device on-the-go.
Moreover, PS4Emus utilizes an online host server for PS4 games. You can download and play games directly from the server, and this offers great convenience, especially when playing on your mobile. This emulator also comes with built-in support for BIOS, which is also helpful and convenient for users.
A slight problem with this emulator is that it sometimes gets game soundtracks altered a bit. Even though PS4Emus offers decent graphics quality, it may sometimes encounter lower frame rates and lagging problems. This is more common for low-end PCs, so people with stronger computers are less likely to encounter this problem. PS4Emus is free and still continuously being improved, so, understandably, it may encounter some problems once in a while.
- Orbital
Lastly, there is the Orbital PS4 emulator. Orbital was started by the well-known developer AlexAltea. This emulator is designed mainly for Linux and windows and is still at its early development stages. For now, it only works with high-end CPUs and requires at least 16GB of RAM and an x86-64 processor with AVX/BMI1 extensions.
Currently, this emulator can only emulate the operating system of PS4 but cannot run commercial PS4 games. It can emulate the PS4’s interface but is unable to function as a fully playable emulator. Like PCSX4, Orbital is also open source, which means that there’s a very high potential for this emulator to improve and work in the future greatly.
Conclusion
There currently aren’t available PS4 emulators on Windows (or any other OS) yet that works 100% and without any problems. All the emulators on this list have their shortcomings, and it’s understandable why. The hardware of Sony’s PS4 is difficult to emulate, and developing a successful emulator needs a substantial amount of time and resources. But given the abundance of open-source emulators and overwhelming support from the developer community, we can expect great improvements to PS4 emulators soon.