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[mattiewheels]

Steven Totilo over at Kotaku with a necessary article on how behind the curve Sony is with their cloud save solution. We're stuck a system wherein having the right handful of games could balloon your savedata to well past the 1gb limit instantly. I've hit the limit with free PS Plus games alone, and had to do the delete-the-saves dance to keep the service running. It's ridiculous, and I hope more articles focus on this.

http://kotaku.com/the-ps4s-cloud-save-system-is-inadequate-1720892737

The difference is dramatic. While both systems allow users to save game progress to a set of external servers called the cloud, making it easier to resume games on a second console, Microsoft does it in a free, automatic and seemingly unlimited way. Sony does it in an expensive, laborious and stingy way.

This is, perhaps, a niche problem, one that will only bother people who are rich enough to own multiple high-end consoles or charming enough to have friends who will let them visit their homes and resume playing in-progress games there. It’s still a big feature gap, and what is the competition between consoles for, other than to have each console embarrass the other into feature parity? (I mean, the Wii U is going to add a free-game subscription program and a 500GB hard drive in order to keep up any day now, right?)

Let’s look at this ugly comparison:

- The Xbox One auto-syncs any user’s save files to the cloud and retrieves them on any other system the gamer logs into when they boot up the relevant game.

- The PS4 offers cloud saves only to paying subscribers to PlayStation Plus (a $50 annual subscription) and syncs those saves to the cloud when you log out of the system but limits online save data storage to 1GB.

Maybe Sony’s getting to it. I’ve asked. A PlayStation rep tells me they have no plans to announce any changes to online storage.

 

[benny_a]

Good write-up, Totilo.

 

[Zomba13]

Yeah it's bullshit. Especially how with the PS4 if you delete a game to free up HDD space it also deletes the save. Not much of a problem with cloud saves except if you don't have space then tough.

EDIT: Welp, guess I was told wrong. I've believed since the launch that deleting a PS4 app deletes the save data too just like the Vita. I've only been deleting things I'd never play again because of this so I guess I can stop that now.

 

[Nokterian]

Yeah 1gb is a fucking joke in this day and age for cloud saving..i seen many times error can't upload from Arkham Knight for example.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Yeah it's bullshit. Especially how with the PS4 if you delete a game to free up HDD space it also deletes the save. Not much of a problem with cloud saves except if you don't have space then tough.

Wait, what? Why the hell would it do that?

 

[pastrami]

Yeah, it's not very good. My storage has been full for over a year and I can't be bothered to go through it deleting things. The fact that games have to pre-allocate space is also dumb. Just a mess all around.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Many of my cloud uploads fail even when the storage isn't at max. It's a pretty FUBAR system at this point.

 

[Durante]

Wait, what? Why the hell would it do that?

Vita also does.

It's infuriating.

 

[pastrami]

Yeah it's bullshit. Especially how with the PS4 if you delete a game to free up HDD space it also deletes the save. Not much of a problem with cloud saves except if you don't have space then tough.

Are you sure about this? That is just insanely dumb.

 

[YoshiStrife]

Are you sure about this? That is just insanely dumb.

Speaks the truth, unfortunately. Incredibly dumb.

Edit: I'm wrong, apparently? Thought it was same as Vita.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

I'm glad websites are picking it up. Harder to ignore.

It ends up punishing the people who play the most games.

 

[Jonnax]

It really is inadequate. I've hit the limit and I just get a ton of notifications saying x game cannot upload data.

Now I know the difference with Sony and Microsoft is that Microsoft have their own cloud computing infrastructure with Azure. But I wonder how much storage costs per gb. I imagine it must be much cheaper than how much a consumer would pay.

 

[mattiewheels]

The worst part about having to do the delete dance is that the PS4 save management interface took a step back from the PS3's. It kicks you to the main menu when you delete anything, and I can't find a way to flag multiple files, so it becomes really tedious. Just a big mess.

 

[Z3M0G]

THANK YOU

It is absolute shit... I need to clear it out CONSTANTLY.

 

[serversurfer]

Best argument I've heard in favor of unlimited storage is we'll only use "lots" of storage if we own lots of games. IOW, if we've given Somy lots of money.

Yeah it's bullshit. Especially how with the PS4 if you delete a game to free up HDD space it also deletes the save. Not much of a problem with cloud saves except if you don't have space then tough.

No, it doesn't.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

yea guys, saves do not get deleted when you delete an install

 

[VeryGooster]

And then I have to delete all those "Cannot upload" notifications ONE BY ONE because for some weird reason there is like a limit to notifications that keeps you from sharing shit*.

*Unless that got eventually fixed.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I've never had it work automatically for me. Every time I boot up the PS4, I'm sent at least one "So-and-so game save file failed to upload" message.

It works fine manually, never automatically.

 

[CorrisD]

I am more annoyed at the lack of space, when each save has a minimum size of 10MB, and some go into hundreds, 1GB doesn't last long at all.

Yeah it's bullshit. Especially how with the PS4 if you delete a game to free up HDD space it also deletes the save. Not much of a problem with cloud saves except if you don't have space then tough.

Wait, what? I've deleted loads of games to make room for new ones knowing I can just reinstall it, why doesn't it mention that anywhere?

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Edit:
I just checked and my saves are all there, what is this bs people are spreading. Now I know it does it on Vita, but I've never ran out of cloud storage there.

┬──┬ ノ( ゜-゜&#12494

 

[GribbleGrunger]

Yeah it's bullshit. Especially how with the PS4 if you delete a game to free up HDD space it also deletes the save. Not much of a problem with cloud saves except if you don't have space then tough.

That's great. I didn't know this and now I've lost progress on umpteen games. What a stupid idea.

 

[Heartfyre]

Very necessary article. 1GB was fine when it came to PS3/Vita saves (not ideal, but acceptable), but for PS4 saves, it's a baffling restriction with the increase in file size. They need to offer a better solution, either unlimited data or, at the least, 10GBs.

 

[metareferential]

More like PSN is inadequate. Let's hope Sony improves on it.

 

[ColdBrew]

I have to agree. My PS4 is complaining right now about space for saves in the cloud.

My Xbox One hasn't given me any problems so far.

 

[Durante]

yea guys, saves do not get deleted when you delete an install

I know for a fact that it works that way on Vita.
I remember because it's so incredibly stupid.

 

[Cheat Code]

Deleting the game data off the PS4 HDD doesn't delete the save, what the fuck are you people talking about?

Stop spreading bollocks.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

And then I have to delete all those "Cannot upload" notifications ONE BY ONE because for some weird reason there is like a limit to notifications that keeps you from sharing shit*.

*Unless that got eventually fixed.

It was a problem for me just the other day, so unless it got fixed since then, it's still broken.

 

[Sword Of Doom]

Yeah it's bullshit. Especially how with the PS4 if you delete a game to free up HDD space it also deletes the save. Not much of a problem with cloud saves except if you don't have space then tough.

It doesn't do this. I've deleted and reinstalled games before and I didn't lose my save file. I think you're thinking about the Vita


The cloud save system is bullshit though. 1gb limit is stupid when save files are so big nowadays.

 

[Norse360]

I've given up on the PS4 cloud saving. I have to manually upload my saves, it never does it automatically even though I've turned it on in the settings. I have to delete saves all time as well since I some of the saves are large. All this takes a lot of time.

 

[BoxManLocke]

That's great. I didn't know this and now I've lost progress on umpteen games. What a stupid idea.

Not on PS4. Deleted many games, still got my save files.

 

[cpp_is_king]

I've been complaining about this for years. It's braindead how shitty their cloud saves are. All they're giving you is an upload / download system. Cloud is supposed to imply some level of automation and transparency. It's more like a lead brick than a cloud.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

It really is inadequate. I've hit the limit and I just get a ton of notifications saying x game cannot upload data.

Now I know the difference with Sony and Microsoft is that Microsoft have their own cloud computing infrastructure with Azure. But I wonder how much storage costs per gb. I imagine it must be much cheaper than how much a consumer would pay.

Google currently give me 15GB for free.

Dropbox current gives me 50GB due to my phone.

My web hosting was £40 a year for unlimited space.

Sony's £40 a year should offer more than 3GB regardless since all I can upload is game saves which I can only create by, well, buying games.

 

[FlyinJ]

Yeah it's bullshit. Especially how with the PS4 if you delete a game to free up HDD space it also deletes the save. Not much of a problem with cloud saves except if you don't have space then tough.

Wait wait what? It does this? That's absolutely crazy. Is there a way to tell it not to, or any way to keep your save without using a memory stick or something?

 

[SerTapTap]

I am more annoyed at the lack of space, when each save has a minimum size of 10MB, and some go into hundreds, 1GB doesn't last long at all.

The 10MB minimum is absurd. Skullgirls is the only game I've seen to go under it (and 3MB still seems high for SG unless it has replays or something)

 

[RedAssedApe]

at the very least, stop showing me notifications that my cloud saves can't be uploaded. already turned off pop-up notifications but they still show up in my notifications center so i need to clear them out otherwise you eventually run into the upload notifications bug where if you hit the notification limit you can no longer upload videos and screenshots...

Wait wait what? It does this? That's absolutely crazy. Is there a way to tell it not to, or any way to keep your save without using a memory stick or something?

he's wrong. there is a separate area for game saves and settings and the actual game content...

 

[shinobi602]

My notifications tab is always piling up. Just yesterday I cleared it all and it had 70 something notifications, majority of which were were "Cannot upload to online storage" or some shit, for the games I played recently.

Been like that for a while and it's pissing me off.

 

[MMaRsu]

Yeah it's bullshit. Especially how with the PS4 if you delete a game to free up HDD space it also deletes the save. Not much of a problem with cloud saves except if you don't have space then tough.

This is just factually wrong. It deletes game updates tho.

 

[gcubed]

there is an article every once in a while about this, but it really needs more attention paid to it. Its straight up terrible

 

[FonkyByNature]

This is one of the things i hate the most about the PS4.

I love the way the Xbox One syncs saves, it just works so much better. I remember when i bought the Sunset Overdrive bundle. I only had to connect with my account, download the games i own and bam, i continue exactly where i left. No need to transfer the save, deal with limited capacity or some complicated bullshit like that.

 

[Zomba13]

yea guys, saves do not get deleted when you delete an install

Are you sure? I remember reading that when the PS4 launched. Obviously if you have PS+ it stays in the cloud if you have room but I could have sworn I was told that if you delete the app then the save goes too like with the Vita.

 

[LakeEarth]

It's annoying on the PS4 to fill up, because everytime you boot up your system you're greeted with a barrage of messages.

DING! Failed to upload Save for Game 1
DING! Failed to upload Save for Game 2
DING! Failed to upload Save for Game 3
DING! Discover new power options!!!!

 

[blastprocessor]

Makes me wonder if they even compress the saves it uses it up so quickly.

 

[etta]

Too bad Kotaku isn't mainstream press...

 

[Gator86]

Everything about PSN cloud saving is trash. So tired for turning on my PS4 and seeing half a dozen save upload failed notifications. Honestly, I'd be fine with Sony spending less on Plus games I played for 5 minutes total and using some of that cash to actually improve their online infrastructure.

 

[Tohsaka]

Yeah, it's completely ridiculous. I've played over 100 games on PS3 and still have storage space for its saves in the cloud. Meanwhile, the PS4 hasn't even been out two years and I'm already out of room for it.

 

[mattiewheels]

Best argument I've heard in favor of unlimited storage is we'll only use "lots" of storage if we own lots of games. IOW, if we've given Somy lots of money.

That's so true, this is not like Dropbox where unlimited space could be taken advantage of way past its own means...its directly dependant on how much you've spent on games. It's a backwards way to do business.

 

[hawk2025]

It's so terrible.

This is by far my main problem with the console.

As someone mentioned above, it's not even a problem with no solution for Sony. Using a ton of storage happens when people buy and use lots of games. Why are we punishing those customers?

 

[baconcow]

Between DRIVECLUB and Minecraft taking up the majority of my cloud save storage, I don't have much left. Had to remove them from the cloud save, which is unfortunate.

 

[Durante]

Very necessary article. 1GB was fine when it came to PS3/Vita saves (not ideal, but acceptable), but for PS4 saves, it's a baffling restriction with the increase in file size. They need to offer a better solution, either unlimited data or, at the least, 10GBs.

Steam has up to 1 GB per game (and will start removing the oldest saves from the cloud once it's reached). I think a "per game" limit is a much better idea than a single total one, since you won't have just one greedy title taking up massive amounts of space and will automatically get more storage for each new game.

 

[Nokterian]

I've never had it work automatically for me. Every time I boot up the PS4, I'm sent at least one "So-and-so game save file failed to upload" message.

It works fine manually, never automatically.

If you get that message it means that 1gb cloud save is full. Believe me it is i encountered this so many times.

 

[Spukc]

How about some decent speed?

i got 200 mbit here.

that is about 80 gig in 1 hour
easy with steam blizzard and origin

look at this shit ?