In 2013, Sony launched the PlayStation 4. It was no secret that Sony somewhat struggled with the PS3, losing significant market share to Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360, so there was a lot riding on the PS4's success. Fast forward to 2020, and it's safe to say that the PS4 lived up to expectations, becoming one of the best-selling video game consoles ever and putting Sony in a great position to keep its momentum going strong into the next generation of consoles.

Over the years, Sony managed to keep fans engaged with the PS4 through a slew of PS4-exclusive games. Some of these games were better-received than others, but all of them gave the PS4 significant value when compared to other gaming platforms on the market.

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Here are all the notable PS4 exclusives that released from 2013 to 2020, and their impact on the console's lifespan. Note that this article has a focus on Sony-published exclusive games.

2013

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Compared to the PS3, the PlayStation 4 launch lineup was somewhat underwhelming. It mainly consisted of last-gen ports, with its most well-received game being the small-scale arcade shoot 'em up Resogun. As far as full retail releases go, the only games the PS4 had to offer in 2013 were Killzone: Shadow Fall, which earned mediocre reviews when compared to the first two games in the series, and the retro-style platformer Knack. Similarly to KillzoneKnack earned mediocre reviews at the time of its launch, but it did develop enough of a following for Sony to justify moving forward with a sequel.

Those with the PlayStation Camera were also able to play The Playroom, a game that came free with all PS4 consoles. It was essentially just a mini-game collection that showed off the PS4's unique capabilities when paired with a PlayStation Camera, but it's notable for being the precursor for the critically-acclaimed Astro Bot Rescue Mission and the upcoming Astro's Playroom on the PS5.

2014

ps4 exclusives history

In 2014, Sony was able to put out more PS4 exclusives, launching the ill-fated but ambitious racing game DriveClub in addition to Infamous: Second Son from Sucker Punch StudiosLittleBigPlanet 3 was also released in 2014, as was MLB 14: The ShowThe Last of Us Remastered brought one of the PS3's most critically-acclaimed games to PS4 with enhanced visuals, and Sony also launched a few digital-only PS4 exclusives in 2014 as well. Overall, the PS4 exclusives lineup in 2014, while it consisted of more games, still failed to really deliver anything on the level of what would come to the system down the line.

2015

bloodborne ps5 reveal event

In 2015, the PS4 really started to come into its own with some truly excellent games. Bloodborne from FromSoftware was the big release of the year, earning near-universal praise from critics and fans of Souls-like games. Sony also launched the critically-acclaimed horror game Until Dawn in 2015, which helped establish Supermassive Games as a premiere studio for narrative-driven horror games. The 2015 PS4 library was padded with remasters of older games, like God of War 3Gravity RushJourney, and Tearaway Unfolded, as well as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection.

In 2015, Sony also launched The Order: 1886, which was an original IP developed by Ready at Dawn, a studio mainly known for making games for the PSP and PS Vita. The Order: 1886 didn't exactly live up to the hype and failed to launch a new franchise like Sony was hoping, but it did do a good job of showing just how impressive graphics could be on the PlayStation 4.

2016

best ps4 exclusives history

Finally, in 2016, the PS4 received its first original game from Naughty Dog in the form of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Billed as the final game in Nathan Drake's story, Uncharted 4 was universally praised at the time of its release, and remains one of the highest-rated games available on the system. Sony also launched the Ratchet & Clank reboot game to tie in to the film, along with its annual MLB franchise game MLB The Show 16.

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But while 2016 was a great year in terms of traditional PS4 exclusives, it was also notable as being the year that Sony launched its PlayStation VR headset. To ensure that PlayStation VR had plenty of software available for fans at launch, Sony released a number of VR-exclusive games, including PlayStation VR Worlds and Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, the latter being an on-rails shooter spin-off of the popular Until Dawn.

2017

PC specs for Horizon Zero Dawn

Four years after the launch of Knack as a PS4 launch title, Sony released Knack 2 in 2017, which added a co-op mode and was better received than its predecessor. There were a number of other notable releases in 2017 as well, including plenty more remasters, bundles, and PlayStation VR games, but the big release of the year was undoubtedly Horizon Zero DawnHorizon Zero Dawn's open world gameplay was well-received by PlayStation fans, and definitely redeemed developer Guerrilla Games in the eyes of many after the letdown that was Killzone: Shadow Fall in 2013. Horizon has launched a new franchise for Sony, with Horizon Forbidden West on the way for PS5.

Sony also started to experiment with a new type of gaming experience in 2017 that it called PlayLink. PlayLink games on PS4 are unique party games that often let players use their phones or other mobile devices as a controller, letting large groups participate in the festivities. The Sony-published PlayLink games of 2017 included the likes of Hidden Agenda from Supermassive Games, Knowledge is PowerSingStar Celebration, and That's You!

2018

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Sony published Detroit: Become Human from Quantic Dreams in 2018, though the game would later become available on other platforms. It also released more PlayLink and PlayStation VR games, with the latter receiving some of its biggest hits, like Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Firewall: Zero Hour. However, there are two PS4-exclusive games that defined 2018 for the console, with those being God of War and Spider-Man. Both games earned widespread critical acclaim and took home numerous Game of the Year awards, leaving fans excited to see their follow-ups on the PS5.

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Additionally, Sony collaborated with Bluepoint Games to release a remake of Shadow of the Colossus. The beloved PS2 classic was updated with significantly enhanced visuals and other features, successfully bringing it to a modern platform.

2019

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While Sony had gone on a roll of PS4 exclusive hits, 2019 is when things started to slow down a bit. The MediEvil remake and Days Gone both launched to mixed reviews, and Death Stranding stands as one of the most divisive video games of the entire generation (it's also since made its way to PC). Otherwise, there weren't many notable releases in 2019 for PS4 or the PlayStation VR, and Sony seemingly abandoned its PlayLink games as well.

2020

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With the PlayStation 5 on the horizon, 2020 marks the last year that Sony will launch major PS4 exclusives. And on the bright side, 2020 has been a considerable step up from 2019's offerings. The year started off with the launch of Media Molecule's Dreams, giving players the tools to create basically whatever they want. Then later, The Last of Us 2 launched, and while it was review-bombed on Metacritic, the game still earned extremely high scores and is currently the highest-rated game of the year. And just within the last couple of weeks, Sony launched Ghost of Tsushima from Sucker Punch, which has also earned high reviews.

While some of the games had a mixed reception, there's no denying that the PS4 went out with a bang in 2020.

Third-Party Exclusives

kenny omega favorite games 2020

While the focus has been on Sony-published PS4 exclusives, there were also some very notable third-party games that were released exclusively on PlayStation 4. Perhaps the two most notable are Final Fantasy 7 Remake from Square Enix and Persona 5 from Atlus. The latter is technically available on PS3 in some regions as well, but Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a pure-PS4 exclusive with strong reviews and its announcement was easily one of Sony's biggest E3 moments in the past decade.

PS5 and the Future

Spider-Man Miles Morales Suit

Looking ahead, there are plenty of PlayStation exclusives on the horizon for fans to get excited about, but they are aiming for release on the PS5. This year will see the launch of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a shorter, standalone followup to the story in 2018's Spider-Man game, as well as the release of Astro's Playroom. In 2021 and beyond, fans can look forward to Horizon Forbidden WestRatchet & Clank: Rift ApartSackboy: A Big Adventure, and much more.

NEXT: What to Expect from the PS5's Exclusive Titles