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Explained: why the PS4 jumped from 4GB of RAM to 8GB

PlayStation 4 originally had 4GB of RAM, before Sony bumped it up to 8GB. Key members of Knack's development team have explained their part in why the number went up.

knack

It follows Matt's blog in defence of Knack, following a string of poor reviews when it launched alongside PS4 in November. As it happens, not everyone thinks it's a bad game.

Now, in an interview with Inside Games - translated via DualShockers - Senior Producer Yosuke Watanabe, Outsourcing Manager Seiichiro Funayama, Game Director Takamitsu Ijima, Lead Artist Yoshiaki Yamaguchi and Lead Programmer Tsuyoshi Murakami gave their post mortem insight into Knack's development.

Ijima explained that because Knack was developed early as a PS4 launch title, many of the console's specific specs weren't known to the team at the start, and this led the team to ask Sony many questions about what it was working towards.

Murakami stated that the PS4's increase from 4GB to 8GB of RAM was approved during that line of questioning. He said that the Knack team were involved in those hardware discussions and asked for the RAM increase after learning that Sony was going to rest on 4GB. The company agreed, and that's effectively why the console is the way it is today. It was quite a simple decision, it seems.

The team also explain Knack's final state, and blame inconsistencies with its assets and visual presentation on outsourcing. Shoring off workload to other teams was necessary for the group to achieve what it wanted in time for the PS4 launch, and although reviews were negative, the developers revealed that hey have since heard warm feedback from parents and older gamers alike.

What did you think of Knack? Let us know below.

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