The PlayStation 5 will have backwards compatibility support, but so far Sony Interactive Entertainment has done a poor job detailing how robust this support will be. Right now we know that the console is backwards compatible with the PS4. However, it’s not fully compatible, or at least it won’t be at launch. According to Sony, most of the top 100 most played games on PS4 will be playable on PS5 at launch. Beyond this, it will be a game-by-game basis. What this means is that there will be no universal backwards compatibility between the PS5 and PS4, at least not at launch. It sounds like many popular PS4 games will work on PS5, but not every single PS4 game will be playable on the console. In fact, according to Sony, some games simply won’t run on the PS5, which is too fast for said games.
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Beyond the PS4, things get even hazier. At the moment of publishing, Sony has not said one way or another whether the PS5 will support any type of backwards compatibility with the PS3, PS2, or PS1. As you may know, there have been rumors since last year suggesting the next-gen PlayStation console will have some level of backwards compatibility support with the PS3, PS2, and PS1, but this seems increasingly unlikely.
At this point, Sony has talked about PS5 backwards compatibility multiple times. Not once has it mentioned support for legacy consoles. As a result, many are already writing off universal support for these consoles, while many are increasingly doubtful there will be any level of backwards compatibility support beyond PS4.
The TLDR version is: we still don’t know much about the PS5’s backwards compatibility capabilities. It’s possible some of this information is still being worked out, and thus Sony doesn’t want to say too much right now. It’s also possible Sony is simply saving more backwards compatibility news for later this year to generate an even bigger splash.
The PlayStation 5 is set to release sometime this holiday season. Like its backwards compatibility support, it’s currently unclear how much the console will cost, what it looks like, or what its entire launch lineup of games will be. That said, if you’re hungry for more information about the latter, be sure to check out our article for every PS5 game confirmed so far.
For more news, rumors, leaks, media, and information on the PS5, be sure to take a quick gander at all of our past and recent coverage of the console by clicking right here.
