When GTA V came out, I tested how long the mandatory 8GB installation took. 15 minutes on an Xbox 360. All next-gen games need to be installed (and are far more than 8GB), so what can you do with 15 minutes on a PS4? Quite a bit, it turns out.


I had a brand-new PS4 and 7 games. Naturally, a brand-new PS4 still needs a system update (copied off the game disc), but with that out of the way, the installation times were surprisingly fast. I also found out that once you put a disc in the drive, it automatically starts installing so not a second is wasted waiting for you to click a button.

I should note that this is part of the PS4's ability to stream games as they download or install, so the installation time isn't how long it takes to install all 36 gigs of Knack, but how long it takes to transfer enough to get the game going. The rest of the data gets copied in the background as long as the disc is in the drive.


Here are the install times I got for the update and each game:

1.06 System update: 6:15

57 seconds to copy the update from the disc

10 seconds to scroll through the EULA

4:10 to prepare, reboot and install

Remaining time is other menus and loading

Knack: 32 seconds

Killzone: Shadow Fall: 0:38

Battlefield 4: 0:42

Injustice: Gods Among Us: 0:28

Just Dance 2014: 0:24

Madden 25: 0:23

Assassin's Creed 4: 0:13

In total, from turning on the system, it took 14 minutes and 30 seconds to do a system update and install 7 games. Not too shabby.