A recent patent could mean the PlayStation 5 will feature backward compatibility

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

While we still don’t have a firm date on when next-gen consoles like the PlayStation 5 will actually release, it seems like Sony is planning ahead on what is being reported as possible backward compatibility on the next Sony console.

In a recently published patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office, it explains that Sony is working on a process that will be able to remaster game textures in real time for higher definition screens than what those assets were originally intended for.

While this doesn’t necessarily mean this new method would be for PlayStation 5, considering the fact that the PlayStation 4 is in the final phase of its lifecycle, it’s unlikely something like this would come to the current gen console.

Sony is stepping up

While no one can argue about how well the PlayStation 4 console has done, that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t lagged behind in certain areas.

Sony is finally starting to embrace some of these things that other companies, like Microsoft, have been doing for years. Things like cross-play options, and even small changes, like the ability to change your username, are finally making its way to the PS4. Backward compatibility is yet another example of Sony embracing its fans and giving gamers what they want.

We’ve reached out to Sony to discuss the recent patent and will update this story if the company responds.

What do you think about backward compatibility on PlayStation? Should the company be focusing on the future and not the past? Let us know in the comments.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Skybound Entertainment will work with Telltale to finish The Walking Dead: The Final Season
• A new YouTube video shows what Fortnite could look like in first-person mode
• Microsoft’s Project xCloud gives gamers a way to stream and play Xbox games anywhere

Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.