PS5 is lightning fast — and the PS4 is, too, thanks to load-time improving patches

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PS4 users get a taste of PS5 thanks to some recent patches

The Last of Us Part II
(Image credit: Naughty Dog)

PS5 has blisteringly fast load times due to its speedy SSD, but PS4 owners are getting a taste of that swiftness thanks to a slew of recent patches issued for first-party titles, VGC reported (via T3).

In recent weeks, developers from Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studio, Pixelopus and more released patches for popular games that dramatically slashed down load times for PS4 gamers.

First-party PS4 patches gives users a taste of PS5

The load-screen time of The Last of Us: Remastered typically lasts over a minute, but after a recent patch, the load-screen time dropped down to 14 seconds, according to YouTuber ElAnalistaDeBits. That's a startling 80% reduction.

"TLOU: Remastered was released more than 6 years ago," ElAnalistaDeBits said. "This patch is most likely due to finding a way to reduce load times while working on its optimization for PS5."

PS4's Until Dawn has also seen a drastic drop in load time. In fact, according to Twitter poster @VizualDze, Until Dawn doesn't load at all.

Other PS4 games such as God of War, God of War 3 remastered and Concrete Genie have also gotten load-time improvements. 

While most of these patches reference "bug fixes" in their update notes, according to VGC, pundits suspect that PS4 games are experiencing speedier load times due to "new compression techniques" developers are experimenting with in preparation for the PS5. However, this is just speculation.

These lightning-fast PS4 load times provide a seductive sample of what the PS5 can offer. Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition, for example, takes 20 seconds to load on current-gen consoles, but on PS5, it loads in under four seconds. 

We've always dreamt of a future with eliminated load times, and it looks like next-gen gaming consoles are finally fulfilling our wishes.

Kimberly Gedeon
Kimberly Gedeon

Kimberly Gedeon, holding a Master's degree in International Journalism, launched her career as a journalist for MadameNoire's business beat in 2013. She loved translating stuffy stories about the economy, personal finance and investing into digestible, easy-to-understand, entertaining stories for young women of color. During her time on the business beat, she discovered her passion for tech as she dove into articles about tech entrepreneurship, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the latest tablets. After eight years of freelancing, dabbling in a myriad of beats, she's finally found a home at Laptop Mag that accepts her as the crypto-addicted, virtual reality-loving, investing-focused, tech-fascinated nerd she is. Woot!