It’s official: PlayStation 5 will not feature backwards compatibility with PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 games. PlayStation boss Jim Ryan spoke with Japanese publication Famitsu and confirmed (translated by our sister site, Siliconera) that Sony’s next-gen console will not be backwards compatible with any other console than PlayStation 4. In short, it sounds like Ryan and the rest of the team at Sony chose to focus on other tech instead of taking the time to implement the feature.
“We keep in mind the engineering specialized for the PS5, as we produced the device,” Ryan said when asked about the feature. “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. 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.”
News that the next-gen console will not support backwards compatibility for PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 titles comes after months of speculation and rumors regarding such a feature.
During an interview with the Washington Post just yesterday, it was confirmed that “99 percent” of the thousands of games tested from the PlayStation 4 catalog will be playable on PlayStation 5. In addition to the current-gen catalog, the PlayStation 5 will enjoy all of the new games featured in yesterday’s showcase, such as Resident Evil Village, Final Fantasy XVI, Demon’s Souls, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
