Is Dragon's Dogma 2 coming to PS4?

Dragon's Dogma 2 is easily one of the biggest releases of this year, so it's only natural for players to wonder if it'll be coming to the PS4. Believe it or not, despite the PlayStation 5 being more than three years old at this point, the almost decade-old PS4 still reigns as the most used console among gamers, right alongside the Nintendo Switch.

While Capcom's previous big titles, like Street Fighter 6 and Resident Evil 4 (remake), were released as cross-gen titles, some players might be wondering whether the same will hold true for the upcoming Dragon's Dogma sequel. After all, it's built using the same RE Engine, which Capcom has been using in almost all their AAA titles.

Unfortunately, Dragon's Dogma 2 is skipping the PS4. It will be released only for the current-gen consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S) and PC hardware. However, there's a very strong reason behind the game's current-gen exclusivity.

Note: Aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the author's opinions.

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Why Dragon's Dogma 2 isn't coming to PS4

The biggest reason Dragon's Dogma 2 is not coming to PS4 is, well, the game's scope as an open-world title. You see, much like its predecessor, Dragon's Dogma 2 features a seamless open world that allows players to organically explore every nook and cranny without hampering the immersion with intermittent loading screens.

However, unlike the original Dragon's Dogma, the sequel's open-world structure is very dynamic, akin to something like Monster Hunter World, albeit on a much larger scale. Certain combat encounters in the game might involve not one, not two, but three or even more monsters at the same time.

Additionally, there are a few creatures like the Griffin, that, when engaged, can often fly up into the sky and carry your Arisen from one part of the map to another, all in real time. While the PS4 is a very capable console, it's also very dated, especially for 2024 standards.

For a very CPU-intensive title like Dragon's Dogma 2, the PS4's now ancient AMD Jaguar-based CPU isn't going to be enough. Even when you take a look at the game's PC system requirements, you will see the minimum requirements to be way above what the PS4 has under its hood.

The minimum CPU requirement for the sequel is a Ryzen 5 3600. This is on par with the Zen-2 CPU PS5 comes with. Additionally, the PS4 is also heavily bottlenecked by its storage. While there's nothing with traditional HDDs, they admittedly are quite slow when contrasted against PS5's gen-4 SSDs.

I do think Capcom could have managed to brute force Dragon's Dogma 2 to run on the PS4 had it not been an open-world game. This was probably why Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 (remake) were able to run on PS4, despite being made primarily for the current-gen console hardware.

However, I do think it's for the best that Capcom didn't try to do so. Focusing on current-gen tech not only allows the company to flex its creative muscles without any hardware-related limitations but also gives it enough headroom to make the game as beautiful as it can be while also making sure it performs well on all platforms.