It’s been a sad couple of days for people who played Genshin Impact on the PlayStation 4. The game was shut down for the PS4 back on April 8, 2026. So let’s look back at how good or how IMPACTFUL (pun intended) the game was back when it came out and until it got shut down.
Genshin Impact’s release
The game was released worldwide back in September 2020. It was available for Android, iOS, Windows, and PlayStation 4. The game was not released for the Xbox until 2024 for the Xbox Series X/S. Genshin was an immediate success, and the people who played on the PS4 stayed for more. While not everyone of those day 1 players stuck around after six years, there was a good community for it.
The initial PS5 conundrum
The PS5 was released in November 2020, and Genshin was later released on it. However, a lot of people didn’t own the PS5 at the time. It was because of limited supplies and the availability of the PS5 back then. That’s why a lot of people stuck around with the PS4 until more units were available. You could see why some stuck around with their PS4 for a bit longer.
Exclusive rewards and Aloy
The PS4 had some exclusive rewards, starting with the two items. These were the Sword of Descension, a 1 Star sword weapon. The other one was the Wings of Descension, a Glider in the game. Then, there’s the big one, which was Aloy, a 5 Star Cryo character. Aloy was the lead character from the Horizon Zero Dawn series, and it was a collaboration for the game.
All of these rewards were exclusive to the PS4 and PS5 owners at the time. They were then released around 2021 for the PlayStation systems, but eventually they were made available for other systems. That was the last of it. If you had started playing Genshin around 2022, even on the PS4 or PS5, you couldn’t get these items and Aloy anymore.
Why did they shut down the game on PS4?
The PS4 is reaching the end of its lifespan. A lot of other games are being delisted for the PS4. Think about it, the system has been out for 13 years already. They haven’t been making units anymore, so whatever is left in circulation is the only one you have to deal with.
What will PS4 Genshin Impact players do now?
For starters, before the shutdown, they were already told about it. The thing is, players can link their Genshin accounts to the official Hoyo site or Google accounts. This will allow them to play on other systems. In fact, a lot of PS4 players probably played it on mobile because they could. You get to keep your progress anyway, so there’s no problem. Maybe some just can’t afford to buy a phone or a PS5 right now to continue playing. That’s necessarily bad if they wanted to keep playing on PS4, which they can’t do anymore.
