The PlayStation 5 will not be backwards compatible with PS1, PS2, or PS3 games

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So, we already knew that the PlayStation 5 (officially announced with pricing and dates this week) would be backwards compatible with almost all games from the PS4 era, but now we have confirmation that previous console generations from Sony will not be included in the functionality.

The news comes from an interview with PlayStation executive Jim Ryan. In the Famitsu interview, Ryan discusses the work that went into making backwards compatibility with PlayStation 4 and discussed how Sony had to make the games work with the PS5’s new controller and new SSD. Because of this, he states, further backwards compatibility was impossible.

In a prior Kotaku interview, Mark Cerny, lead system architect, noted that each game had to be hand-tested to make sure it worked. Because of this, the roll-out for PS4 games on PS5 will be staggered, with the most popular games getting the functionality first.

Personally, I’m fine with this news. Backwards compatibility is not the end-all, be-all when deciding on a new console. While it is nice to have the functionality, expecting games from every generation to work with the latest console is a big ask from the PlayStation team. Especially considering the work that apparently has to go into these games to make sure backwards compatibility works as intended.

What do you think? Are you ok with the new backwards compatibility news regarding the PlayStation 5? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.