How to Delete Games on PS4 to Free up Storage

Games are getting bigger in size by the day. If you are a gamer with a variety of different games on your PlayStation, you probably have faced storage issues. This is pretty common as games are crossing the 50 GB mark at this point. Thus, you have two options. You can buy either more storage for your console that gives you a lot more free space to work with. If you go down this path, you have the royalty of keeping up your current games. The second option, on the other hand, is to delete the games that are lying around for nothing. That may not be the case if you love your variety, however, you are forced to delete them as you wish to get newer games on your PS4.

While the procedure isn’t really difficult, the choice can sometimes be. Nonetheless, deleting a game from your PS4 is not hard and this can be done via multiple ways that we are going to mention down below. You have the ability to delete games directly from your Library. You can delete them through your System Storage as well. If you do it via System Storage, you have the option of viewing how much space a certain game is taking up. Additionally, PlayStation stores game files that contain your settings and other configuration. You can also get rid of those if you do not intend to download and then play the game again at a later date or time. With that said, let us get into the various ways of deleting a game on your PS4 for the sake of freeing up some space.

Method 1: Delete Games from the Library

As we have mentioned, one of the ways you can delete or uninstall a game on your PlayStation 4 is through the game’s Library. Deleting games from the Library has an obvious disadvantage though. When you delete a game from the Library, you do not really know how much space the game is actually taking. This can be sometimes very helpful in deciding what games you wish to remove. Nonetheless, if you wish to continue anyway, follow the instructions down below:

1. In your game Library, make your way to the game icon that you wish to delete.

   

2. Once you have selected the game, press the Options button on your controller.
3. This will bring up a new menu with a lot more options. From the menu, scroll down to the Delete option and select it.

   

4. Confirm your action by pressing OK on the confirmation prompt.
5. That’s it, you have successfully deleted the game.

Method 2: Deleting Games from System Storage

As it turns out, another way that you can actually delete games is via the System Storage. The good thing about deleting games from the System Storage menu is that it lists the size of the game that you are deleting. Thus, you get to know beforehand how much free space you will get if you delete the game. The system storage also lists the games in size order, thus, you will find the games taking up the most size first. To delete a game from system storage, follow the instructions down below:

1. First of all, you will have to navigate to the Settings screen on the home screen.

   

2. Then, from the menu, scroll down and choose the Storage option.
3. After that, on the Storage screen, choose System Storage. In case you have an external storage drive connected to your PS4, you can select that if you wish to free up some space on the external storage drive.
4. After that, select the Applications option.

   

5. On the Applications screen, you will be shown a list of the games installed on your PS4 and the exact size they are taking.
6. Press the Options button to bring up a new menu.
7. On the new menu that appears, choose the Delete option.
8. Now, you can choose as many games as you wish. When you select a game, the box on the left-hand side is ticked.

   

9. Once you have chosen your game(s), press the Delete option at the bottom right corner.

   

10. Finally, press the OK button to confirm your action. The games are now removed.

Deleting Game Files

Now that you have deleted your games from your PS4, there is one more additional but optional step that you can do. As it turns out when you remove a game from your PS4, not all the files are completely removed from your PS4. What this means is that even when you have deleted the game, the game leaves behind your saved game files. This includes your game settings along with any save files. These files are useful if you decide to install the game later down the line. Therefore, if you intend on downloading the game at some time, you should skip this step. Otherwise, you can remove the game files as well from your PS4. To do this, follow the instructions down below:

1. First of all, on your PS4’s home screen, choose the Settings option.
2. Then, on the Settings screen, scroll down and select the Application Saved Data Management option.

   

3. There, choose the Saved Data in System Storage option.
4. Once you have done that, choose the Delete option.
5. Then, choose the game files of the game you have deleted.
6. Finally, choose the Delete option at the bottom right again to delete the saved game files.

   

7. Press OK to confirm your action.
8. This will remove the game files from your PS4.

That is it, you have successfully freed up space for new games and applications on your PS4. You can easily reinstall the games by just going to the Purchased menu and selecting the game.