As 2021 approaches its second quarter, the gaming industry is still adjusting to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its limitations. Unlike normal years, where the ushering of a new console generation is full of fanfare and upgrades, 2020 was dry. Rather than becoming the dawn of a new gaming age as Microsoft and Sony had planned, things went stale rather quickly.
The Xbox Series X and the PS5 received a good response at launch, then promptly fell on their faces. A shortage of units on both sides meant that obtaining the new consoles became difficult. A delay in game developer kits meant that games on the Xbox were poorly optimized in terms of performance. Just look at rushed, disappointing games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Marvel’s Avengers, which released for old and next-gen.
Meanwhile, the PS5, in trying to compete with Microsoft’s schedules, seemed to cut several important PS4 features. Unlike Microsoft’s Xbox lineup, there is no concept of Smart Delivery here. While the Xbox One to Xbox Series X save game transfer is automatic and instant, the PS5 struggles with this. Clearly, Sony didn’t prioritize smooth data transfer between the PS4 and PS5 the way their rivals did. For this reason, booting up your old save files, suppose for the Avengers, across the console generation is a needlessly complicated affair.
This means that other games with upcoming current-gen versions, like Cyberpunk 2077, will also require the same tackiness. Luckily, we have your back. Just because Sony has let fans down doesn’t mean that your games become useless on current-gen. Although, fans certainly won’t appreciate learning their new $500 console can’t even handle a simple game save transfer. Regardless, we’ll go through the steps needed to port over your saved game of the Avengers from the PS4 to the PS5.
To transfer the Avengers save to PS5, you’ll need to prep your PS4 console first
The most important thing to remember is that Sony isn’t actively going to help you in this process. To compare, the Xbox family has always managed its Cloud saves online, using the player’s Microsoft account. That is why logging into your PC games with the same account lets you pick up exactly where you left off on the console. They call this the “Play Anywhere” initiative, and with the advent of mobile game streaming, it’s a terrific feature. Because the PS4 lacks this feature, you’ll need to manually adjust certain settings to migrate your game progress.
For starters, make sure your PS4 is updated to the latest version. This is because Sony is always updating its console’s framework with new fixes, revamps, and optimizations. The latest of these changes includes the most recent data needed to correspond with the PS5. To put it simply, the PS5 and PS4 share the same OS. Therefore, their software versions need to be as close as possible to allow game file transfers. Head to your console’s settings, and look for the System Updates option.
If any update is available, it’ll apply once selected. Furthermore, ensure that you have the latest update applied to your Avengers game too. This is because only the newest update build of the game supports cross-gen save transfer. You can do this from the game installation manager.
Log back into your up-to-date PS4, and sign in with the PSN account that has the Avengers save on it. This account should be the same as the one you will use to play on PS5. Now, go to the Trophies tab, and press the OPTIONS button while there. Select the ‘Sync With PlayStation Network’ option. This will allow your account info to upload onto the cloud for retrieval on the newer console.
The next phase is connecting the two consoles together, and you have two methods to do this
Now, you should keep in mind that while the consoles will link up using hardware, the save transfer is primarily an online process. That means both consoles, the PS4, and the PS5, need to connect to the same network. This is vital because, like many information transfer services, the PSN transfer is reliant on local internet connections. This means you can’t beam your PS4 Avengers saved game from your console to a PS5 on a different network.
Since we’re at network connectivity, you have an odd but important decision to make here. You get two choices on how to proceed with the data transfer. The first option is to allow both consoles to connect entirely wirelessly, using WiFi. The downside to this easily-accessible default connectivity? It’s that WiFi connections suffer attenuation: they lose signal strength over distances.
They also suffer from frequent interferences from other signals in the environment, as well as latency in transmission and receiving data. As a result, this is a relatively slow process and will vary in speed depending on a variety of factors.
The better, more preferable option? Use a LAN cable (also known as Ethernet) to connect the consoles to the network. If you have two cables, all you need to do is hook each console up to your router. This will result in a faster, more stable data transfer process free from fluctuations and packet loss. If you have only one LAN cable, then you’re still in luck.
The PS5 and PS4 allow for a cable connection between the two consoles, while both maintain wireless connectivity to the router. This ‘bridge‘ of sorts works essentially the same as having two separate cables fed into the router individually. So, no matter which wired connection you take, it’ll pay off.
Once the PS4 and PS5 are connected, it’s time to start the transfer process. On your PS5, head to Settings, then System, and then System Software. From here, navigate to Data Transfer, and click Continue once the PS4 shows up. Then, select the Prepare For Data Transfer option, and press and hold down the power button on your PS4 for a few seconds, until you can hear a distinct audio cue.
Once the transfer is complete, you can exit the tab and disconnect the consoles. Your Avengers PS4 save is now available on the PS5!