The Limited Playstation 5 Backwards Compatibility is Disappointing

March 18, 2020 at 4:52pm
By Jason Stettner

With the full specs reveal of the Playstation 5, details on the backwards compatibility were also revealed and honestly they are rather disappointing. It’s noted that they looked at the top PS4 titles as ranked by play time and almost all of them will be available for the launch of the PS5.

It’s been noted that 4000 games were published on the current generation console and they’ll be expanding testing going forward in regards to adding more to their BC program. That feels like a rather limited option in comparison to the competition. With the Xbox Series X you can plug in your old Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Original Xbox games with all of their current backwards compatible titles working right from there.

I imagine we’ll see some releases over time to add to what the PS5 will have library wise, but it’s not exactly the news I was hoping for. In general I had anticipated most of the Playstation 4 library to be available, and perhaps some form of older titles.

It’s becoming harder and harder to lock down licensing for older games, so it’s somewhat important to do it sooner than later as eventually it just won’t be possible. This also would have been a good benefit for the platform, taking older content with you as you move forward. Now, it’s great that most of the top played games are carried forward.

That being said, that likely means that many gems that aren’t as popular will likely be left behind. Multiplayer games are obviously going to be more popular when it comes to time played, and that’s not a fair comparison. Indie titles, and other larger AAA games that focus on their campaign matter too. I really don’t want another situation where we have to re-buy games again, or purchase another collection of games we already own.

The whole point of the core architecture being similar was so that this would become less of a problem. I know Sony hasn’t been big on supporting older games in recent generations, but I had assumed the tune might change in seeing the hype their competition has had when they bring back older titles.

It’s not only that we won’t see some legendary older Playstation games arrive, we’re also going to miss out on PS4 games that we might have collected over the generation. Remember that while you might have a favorite arriving on this backwards compatible program, someone else’s favorite might be neglected. Another important element to remember is for the preservation of games.

When these generation shifts happens the hardware that played them dwindles down and sometimes games will become lost to time. That really shouldn’t be an issue considering the digital space these days, but it is due the way these ecosystems work. It’s just a troubling thought that some of these games, and well art wasn’t worth carrying forward.

Again, from a buyers perspective people also won’t likely want to have to purchase a game they had already owned. I had always anticipated that backwards compatible support wouldn’t be great on PS5, but I had hoped for more PS4 games wise and had a hopeful thought that maybe we’d see some older generations supported as well. That obviously isn’t the case for now, hopefully that does change as time progresses however. Read about the fun mystery about the PS5 below, or check out the hub for additional coverage.

Read our About the Exciting Mystery of the PS5
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