Sony Won’t Follow Microsofts Lead With Console Backwards Compatibility

Microsoft has hit the market hard with all their announcements during E3 2015 where the most beloved feature announcement probably was the backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One.

This is a huge feature request from users every time a new console is released and many wondered why it wasn’t part of the deal when it was released. The same goes for Sony’s PlayStation 4 console that can’t play PS3 games either. Now that Microsoft announced their backwards compatibility program, many PlayStation owners had hoped for Sony to counter this by doing the same, add backwards compatibility for PlayStation 3 games on the PlayStation 4. The first PS3 could play PS2 games, so it isn’t an unfamiliar concept to Sony.

The sad news is however that this won’t happen. PlayStation Europe boss Jim Ryan says that the backwards compatibility of Xbox One is a legitimate strategy in trying to upgrade 360 players, Sony will not be following the same tactic and is instead investing in other software updates for the PS4. Jim Ryan also noted that while this feature is the most requested by users, very few actually use it where it is available.

“We are just taking a different path. To the extent that you are investing in software technology – which is what this is, it’s delivered through software not through hardware – we are trying to commit our resources and put our emphasis on delivering on the promises we made right at the start of this whole PS4 thing, to be the forward-looking, socially-connected console. We are placing our bets on things like SharePlay, on things like Play as you Download, and things like Suspend/Resume”

Thank you MCV for providing us with this information