Between last generation and this one, though, we’re at the point where consoles are more like prebuilts. Games have performance targets, it’s up to users to decide when they feel like an upgrade. The only difference is that games (usually) won’t release for models that can’t run them well, compared to some people who try to squeeze out every frame they can from their 10-year-old potato PCs, though every now and then you still get a Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles.

But there’s a reason why some games still target the PS4 in 2024, because if you’re a small-budget indie game that doesn’t need the full hardware of the PS5, why not? Since you don’t get locked out of older stuff when you upgrade anymore, which enables newer stuff to keep releasing on older systems, anyone can hold on to a console until they run into a game worth upgrading for.