Sony Talks About PS5 Backwards Compatibility (And It’s Not Good)

With both the Xbox Series X and PS5 expected to release around November this year, one of the biggest talking points regarding the consoles is what kind of backward compatibility they will offer. While Microsoft has been very positive citing ‘thousands of games’ will work on launch day, Sony has been somewhat suspiciously quiet.

Well, in a report via Eurogamer, Sony has said that while they will be offering some backwards compatibility, it is certainly not going to take any priority over games specifically made for the platform.

Sony Talks PS5 Backwards Compability

In an interview with Sony Interactive Entertainment’s president and CEO Jim Ryan, while he hasn’t cited anything specific regarding how many PS4 games will work on the console, he is certainly playing down the importance backwards compatibility has on their overall development.

“We have always said that we believe in generation. We believe that when you go to all the trouble of creating a next-gen console, that it should include features and benefits that the previous generation does not include.

In our view, people should make games that can make the most of those features…whether it’s the DualSense controller, whether it’s the 3D audio, whether it’s the multiple ways that the SSD can be used… we are thinking that it is time to give the PlayStation community something new, something different, that can really only be enjoyed on PS5.”

What Does the Future Hold?

In regards to what current games we can expect to run on the PS5, while we don’t have anything written in stone, Sony has gone as far as to give us a solid indication of what the ‘transition’ point will be. Put simply, any game submitted to Sony after July 13th, designed for the PS4, will be required to have compatibility with the PS5.

While this doesn’t apply to any games registered before this date, it basically ensures that anything new on the horizon that will release on the PS4 between July 13th and the PS5’s launch will (mostly) be required to have an ‘update’ so it will work on the latter console. So, on the whole, while it’s still more than a little unclear where the land will lie with the PS5 and backward compatibility, we do have a few more pieces fitted in the puzzle.

Incidentally, in case you missed it earlier, Sony is going to reveal some gameplay footage from the PS5 this week and, if you want to learn more about that, you can check the link here!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!