When PlayStation Plus was first announced, it was an additional paid service for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. Back then playing games online was free, but subscribing to Plus meant you gained additional features.
The first major feature was the monthly free games, which allowed members to download and play games as long as they were a subscriber, but the second feature was a bit more useful; the cloud save function. This function finally allowed members to keep their game saves safe. But why was that a concern you might ask? Well...
A Quick History:
On the PlayStation 3, a constant fear for many was the "Yellow Light of Death." This occurred usually when the thermal paste went bad within the console, but other malfunctions could cause it as well. Those who were tech-savy could possibly repair it themselves, but anyone else would either need to send the console into Sony or buy a new one. While this allowed you to play your PS3 again, everything within the console would be lost. That's where the cloud save came into play.
While the PS3 did support copying save files to USB, not all games allowed you to do so. If you wanted to backup your saves, or move them to another console, the only choice was to pay for PS Plus. The cloud saves kept your data safely within PlayStation Network, and those who had to move to a new PS3 could do so without worry. It also functioned with the later added PlayStation Now streaming service (which is now a part of PlayStation Plus Premium), so it had more uses than just being a backup.
Moving onto the PlayStation 4 and 5, the cloud saves still work the same. Every game you play is automatically backed up to PlayStation Network, and that makes jumping from console to console very easy. Simply log in, restore your cloud save, and you're good to go. This was especially helpful when moving from PS4 to PS5, but it's always nice to know your saves are safe and sound either way... Or are they?
The Issue:
When the PlayStation 4 came out, Sony increased the limit of the cloud storage. Save files were larger on the PS4, so it made sense to increase each member's cloud to 100 GB. When the PlayStation 5 came along, players were given an additional 100 GB for PS5 games, thus splitting the cloud service into two. 100 GB on the PS4 side, 100 GB on the PS5 side, and any additional space leftover cannot be used by the other platform. It sounds like plenty in theory, but the reality is that another limit also exists. A 1000 save limit.
At first hearing about this limit may not sound like a big deal. Many's first thoughts might be "so I can play 1000 games on PS4 and 1000 games on PS5. That's 2000 games!" But no, that's not actually how this works.
Whenever you start up a game, two save files are made at a minimum. The first save file is a "System Data" file, and the second is the actual save file itself. The System Data is a save that tracks everything you do within a game, and can be used in multiple ways. The most common use is for unlockables or statistics that carry through all saves within a game, but some games use it in unique ways. Whatever the case may be, every game uses a System Data file, even if it isn't really "used."
The second file (or third, or forth, or hundredth) is the game's save data itself. Everyone should be familiar with this, as it's where your game's progress is actually stored. The thing with this however, it's not always a single file, and players may have reasons to have more than one. Fighting games tend to use a standard save file for progress, but often they'll make a second save to store replay data or other stats. This means these games are using a minimum of three saves instead of two, which further limits how many games can be saved.
So based on whatever games you play, the reality is that you can only use the cloud save for possibly 500 of them, with that limit decreasing based on the type of game being played. If you somehow only played games that included a third save file type, then your limit actually jumps down to 333. Even this isn't fully accurate though, as there are many games that make use of more than just three files.
If you play a game such as Fallout 4 or Skyrim, then your save file limit is going to be decreased by quite a bit. Games like these include an auto-save as well as your standard save file. Not only that, they tend to keep multiple auto-saves just in case something goes wrong. A single playthrough of such a game might actually use ten or more save slots, with the save count increasing as you move on. Sure, you can delete these saves, but it'll be an ongoing process until you finish the game. Not only that, but they will be backed up to the cloud each time, and will need to be removed from the cloud storage when everything is said and done.
Other games that do something similar include Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding. In this game nearly every single save you make is actually saved as a new file, and because of that it doesn't take long to find yourself with hundreds of saves. Of course the game doesn't tell you this, nor does the cloud storage clearly show it, but if you open up the save manager you'll see exactly what is going on.
Again, despite being able to save 500 games normally, chances are your number will be much lower.
How to fix it:
So how do you fix this problem once you reach the save cap? You can't. Simple as that. The only thing you can do is start deleting save files, and figuring out what you want to keep, and what you want to get rid of. Games streaming through PlayStation Premium will require their cloud saves, so those are not the best option to delete, and RPGs where you've possibly spent hundreds of hours would hurt deleting as well.
The best thing to do is to start deleting short single player games you've finished, and don't mind if you have to restart. Your physical on console save is still there, assuming nothing happens to your PS4 or PS5, but you won't be able to transfer that progress elsewhere. Clearing out auto-saves in games can go a long way as well, and deleting any backup saves made can help a bit too. While it's common to make backup saves in games like Resident Evil and The Evil Within, or even in JRPGs where you fear you might lose your progress, it's better to clear these from the cloud to make room for something that matters more.
Thankfully the save manager on PS Plus allows you to select individual files and clearly see what you are deleting, so it isn't too big of a chore to go through and clean things up; it's just really unfortunate that it even has to be done to begin with. It forces you to pick which games matter and which ones do not, and even then you can still possibly hit the cap. As PlayStation 4 games continue to release, each new one started up will betaking away 2 save slots, and that means older saves are eventually going to have to be deleted.
On the bright side, PlayStation 5 does have it's own 1000 save limit, so it's less likely to hit that cap for the time being... But it is still there. Each new PS5 game will tick away at that limit, and some games will hit harder than others. As the years go on, that limit will be reached.
So next time you are playing on your PS4 or PS5 and realize data isn't being uploaded, or your console is filled with error messages, you might want to consider checking your save data. Chances are, that's the cause of your problems. Of course the generic "cannot upload" message doesn't help tell you that.
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