PlayStation 5 is a console still shrouded in mystery, starting from the name itself which, for now, has not been confirmed (although everyone expects a simple “PS5”). We were able to discover some of the console’s technical specifications thanks to Mark Cerny, along with various other details, but clearly, there is a lot to reveal and confirm.
If we were to find one major certainty of PS5 we would have to focus on backwards compatibility: Sony has ensured that PS4 titles will be playable on the next-gen console and PSVR without any problems.
This is a very important element and Jim Ryan, CEO and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, knows this well. Ryan recently commented on the matter, stressing once again that this is a key feature of PS5 and it will certainly help the next-gen to succeed.
Sony wants to take advantage of the backward compatibility to “leverage Backwards Compatibility to transition our community to Next-Gen faster and more seamlessly than ever before.” Obviously the reference is to PS3 and PS4: the current generation did not offer backwards compatibility, impossible to natively achieve following the clear change of the architecture.
Of course, Microsoft has shown that with a little effort it was possible to offer this service for free, but Sony, being in charge and wanting to focus more on PlayStation Now, has clearly decided that it was not worth investing in that.
Fortunately, with PS5 it won’t be like this: the change of generation will also offer many games to work on both Sony platforms, so as not to abandon users who are not willing to switch immediately. Tell us, is it important for you too to be able to play PS4 titles on PS5?