Sony’s Jim Ryan has commented on the backwards compatibility of the PS5, which is limited to PS4 games. Apparently it was technically not easily possible to include the previous systems of PS3, PS2, and PS1, as confirmed by Ubisoft previously.
In recent hours, we reported that the PS5 is compatible with 99 percent of PS4 games. That means you can take almost your entire library with you into the new generation.
It looks a little different with the games that were once released for PS3, PS2, and for the first PlayStation console. They are not covered by the backward compatibility. Why that is so, revealed Sony’s Jim Ryan in a conversation with the editors of Famitsu.
“We keep in mind the engineering specialized for the PS5, as we produced the device. In the midst of that, the PS4 already has 100 million players; we thought they ought to want to play PS4 titles on the PS5 as well indeed, so we included compatibility with the PS4,” Ryan said.
Bringing the games from the previous consoles to the PS5 would obviously have posed problems for Sony. “While implementing that, we also focused our efforts on taking in the high-speed SSD and the new controller DualSense at the same time. So, unfortunately, we couldn’t reach the implementation of such compatibilities,” Ryan continues.
The fact that the backward compatibility of the PS5 is limited to the games of the previous generation is certainly not new. And you don’t have to spend extra money for the PS4 games. PS Plus users benefit from the so-called PlayStation Plus Collection, which grants access to selected games of the current generation.
Recall that PS5 will be released on November 19, 2020, at a price of $399.99 (digital edition) and $499.99 (basic version). Pre-orders should start today. But most retailers started taking orders last night. In the morning hours, most of the inventory was sold out.
