Version Luna 5 of Genshin Impact is now live, but it’s a bittersweet occasion for fans of HoYoverse’s breakout gacha RPG – at the very least, those who are still playing the game on PlayStation 4, which is presumably true of somebody out there.
HoYoverse announced last year that they intended to wind down support for Genshin Impact on PS4, which – alongside PC, Android, and iOS – was one of the launch platforms for the game back in 2020. And with Version Luna 5, those end days are upon us.
The game has already been delisted on the platform since last September, meaning it was no longer available for download and could only be updated by players who already had it installed. But as of today, paid purchases from the in-game store have been disabled on PS4; and in six weeks’ time, on approximately April 8, Version Luna 6 will discontinue access to the PS4 version altogether.
In many ways this is unsurprising – Genshin is already available on both PS5 and Xbox Series to sate fans eager to play on console, and the PS4’s hardware is increasingly struggling to keep up with this massive open-world game after more than five years of regular updates have ballooned both its file size and technical requirements.
Aptly enough, Luna 5 takes the main story action back to the nation of Mondstadt, the location where the Traveler (and, by extension, the players) took their first steps into the world of Teyvat back in September 2020. It feels like a symbolic last hurrah for the original console home of the game, as does the inclusion of a Chronicled Wish banner focussing on some of Mondstadt’s most iconic (read: too old to be meta by now) 5-Star characters – namely Eula, Mona, Albedo, Klee, Diluc, and Jean.
And as the icing on the Tea Break Pancake, this banner is running alongside the long-anticipated introduction of Varka – the Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius who has been a major character in the game’s lore from the very beginning, but who only became playable with today’s update.
Looking ahead to that post-Luna 6 future, Genshin Impact will still be available on PS5, as well as Xbox Series consoles, PC, and mobile devices – so hopefully anyone who is still playing primarily on PS4 will find another platform they can continue the adventure on by April.
