Last month, Sony Interactive Entertainment pulled back the curtain on the PlayStation 5, officially announcing the next-gen console and revealing some of its specs and features. Included in this information dump about the console was confirmation that it will be backwards compatible with the PS4. As for backwards compatibility with the PS3, PS2, and PS1, there's no word from Sony. There's been reports that PS3 and earlier backwards compatibility is off the table, meanwhile there's been some reports claiming the opposite. In other words, who knows what's happening -- only Sony, clearly.

That said, during Sony's Investor Relations Day this month, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan spent a lot of time talking about the PS5, and at one point, the topic of backwards compatibility came up. Ryan claimed PlayStation sees backward compatibility as an opportunity to transition the community to the next-gen "faster and more seamlessly than ever before."

Ryan pitched the feature to investors as "incredibly important" and believes it will be "really critical" to the PS5's success. That said, it's interesting because the PS4 did quite well for itself without the feature, suggesting it's not vital. And at this point, backwards compatibility with one console before isn't that special. If Sony really wants to make a splash, it will need to add at least PS3 support. However, with PlayStation Now's biggest selling point being PS3 games, I can't imagine the PS5 will speak with anything but the PS4. Plus, the more backwards compatibility you have, the less room you have for remasters and even remakes.

For more news, media, and information on the upcoming Sony console, be sure to peep all of our previous and extensive coverage on the system and all things related to it by clicking right here. In the most recent and related news, a new video has surfaced showing of the incredibly fast loading times of the PS5.

Posted: May 24, 2019 5:02 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/2019/05/23/ps5-playstation-5-backwards-compatibility-ps4/