Topic: New Digital PS5 without a PS4

My son is 9 years old and I'm getting him a new PS5 as a combo birthday and holiday gift once it is available. He currently has a Switch so we don't have any old PS4 games. Has it been announced yet how backwards compatibility will work with the digital version if you haven't bought the game in the past? If there is a PS4 game that I want to get for him would I buy it through the digital store as a PS4 game and then it will become available on the PS5? Are digital PS4 games more expensive than the physical ones? Am I better off buying a PS5 with a disc drive and figure that I'd make that money back if we end up buying him a few older games used?

Looking at the launch titles I don't think there are too many that will be good for a nine year old which is why I imagine for the first year or so he might be playing older PS4 games.

Thanks.

Any content restrictions on what he's allowed to play?

The PS5 will have something called the "Playstation Plus Collection" available at launch that'll allow him to play a lot of the best PS4 games on his new system. But a lot of those are M-rated titles, so I don't know how appropriate that might be for him.

At launch, games should be identically priced physically and digitally. IN GENERAL, it's easier to get access to cheap used game discs, but it's worth mentioning that Sony has had a lot of really good digital sales this generation as well.

Nearly all PS4 games should be playable on PS5 by default. A lot of games will have free upgrade patches if they're downloaded onto a PS5 that improve resolution/framerate.

@ks-man If you get the digital edition, you'd have to buy the PS4 games online. The store presumably has both PS4 and PS5 games, and both will work on the PS5. I don't think there will be a separate ''PS4 store''.

And yeah, that's the question. You can save $100 by going with the digital edition, but it all depends on what you'll be buying. I'm personally going with the regular edition, as it gives me more freedom in the ways I can buy games. With the digital console, you can't buy used games, or buy a game when it's on sale at a retailer. It's a bit more expensive, but I'll recoup the losses eventually.

Not much to add to the replies above mine. Only that I assume the PS Store on the PS5 will show both PS4 and PS5 games, and it'll just say which system a particular game is for.

I'll echo the fact that you can get really cheap PS4 games now, on disc. As for digital you'd have to wait for sales, and even then the discount might not be heavy.

I'd go for the disc version. Indeed I have done myself so I'm able to keep my PS4 library and add to it if I wish. My wife also plays so at least she'll be able to just buy a physical PS4 game with the knowledge it'll still work.

In the past (Wii U and Switch) I always leaned towards digital games for him since he was younger and I didn't have the worry about a game being damaged or lost, they were just there. As he's getting older that is probably less of a worry so the digital version is just more convenient. I guess I should take a look at some older PS4 games and compare the used prices vs. the online digital price.

Regarding content, that was going to be a future topic but I guess I can get into it here. For now I don't think he is quite ready for M rated games. It isn't really the violence or the occasional language (he plays Fortnight with a microphone constantly and watches YouTube on his iPad so he hears everything). I wouldn't want him to experience games with sexual situations or nudity.

We'll be getting the PS Collection as I had an old PS3 (broken now) and played God of War 1-3 so I'm looking forward to playing God of War from PS4. I saw there was Ratchet and Clank and perhaps Batman will be ok for him.

I don't see myself buying him too many new games as whenever he gets a new game he barely plays it and just goes back to Fortnight. I think it will all come down to what his friends have. Something like Madden where he can play friends online will work for him. I'll probably get Spider Man since he loves Marvel but it will probably be more for us to play together.

He probably would be fine with a PS4 but I don't want to make that mistake again. I got him a Wii U about 6 months before the Switch came out (hard to tell a 5 year old to wait six months for a bday present) and within a year all he wanted was a switch.

@ks-man If you didn’t have a PS4 I would recommend PlayStation now. It gives you a lot of child focused games for a single subscription. Your kid can just download what they want without needing to pester you to buy games. A year subscription cost significantly less than the disk drive.

Of course if you want to play the latest PS5 games on release then you will get substantial savings by buying the disk. Rather than needing to download everything. But if you’re waiting for sales for digital sales tend to have lower prices eventually. But it can take a few years to get there.

@Ryall Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into PS Now. Do you know how big the games are to download? We have a 1.2tb cap on Xfinity so if he is constantly downloading a ton of new games without coming to me (assuming I can set some ratings control) I could see us blowing through that pretty quickly.

Assuming it isn't an issue though it sounds like a great idea. In this day and age kids are very different with game playing than we were growing up. I can't tell you how many games I've bought him for Switch or Wii U at $50+ that he turns on, plays for 10 minutes and doesn't want to play anymore. Unless they see it being played on YouTube and become convinced it is worth the time they just ignore it. He went through a period of Splatoon and Super Smash Bros and loved watching me play Breath of the Wild but over the past two years the only games he plays are Fortnight and Roblux. A lot of his friends play Sports games which is the reason for the PS5 since those are lacking on Switch.

Based on that a monthly fee for a number of lesser end games probably would work much better than a big fee for a single game.

@ks-man How long is a piece of string.
Thomas was Alone is 321.98mb, Lego Batman 3 is 7.36gb and Knack is 34.77gb. I haven’t seen any games on PlayStation now over 50gb but there are certainly some PlayStation games than are double that. If you’re limited it’s always worth looking at the size of the game before you hit download.

You could just give him access to browse and then require download to be done through your account. Then he can play them once they’re downloaded.

@ks-man Well, you're in luck. Nearly all of the Playstation's "mature" rated games in that collection are heavy on violence, but have little to nothing in the way of sexual content. The only big PS exclusive I can think of this gen that had anything in the way of that is The Last of Us Part II, actually.

Thought I'd come back here and follow-up.

I signed up for the week trial of PS Now and have been streaming in on my PC. My son has been enjoying Batman Assylum and while a few parts are a little challenging for him he has been able to figure most stuff out and I just help him a little when he gets stuck. Hopefully he can get through that one and Arkham City so once we are able to find a PS5 he can play Arkham Knight on it.

How similar is the PS4 Spiderman and the upcoming Miles Morales to the Batman games? I like that Batman isn't straight out all fighting yet puts a little detective elements on it.

Also for Ratchet and Clank on PS Now, what would be the best way to start him off if he has never played any of them? And are there any other good PS Now games that he should look at to get prepared for the PS5?

Thanks for all of the comments!

@ks-man the combat for Spider-man is pretty similar to the batman games, although we haven't played Miles Morales yet I'm going to say it'll be an evolution of the first game throwing in Miles unique abilities.

As for Ratchet and Clank PS4, I believe it's a remake of the original PS2 game. I never played any before this one and had a great time , I personally can't wait for the sequel on PS5 and I'm 38 I 'm sure your son would love it!

@ks-man Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition comes with a remastered version of Spider-Man (2018). So that may be worth looking into. You're getting Spider-Man remastered for $20 essentially.