PS5 Confirmed to Be Backwards Compatible with PS4 Games

Disc or digital? Or Both?

CEX isn't going to know what hit it on launch day

The legacy of Knack will live on!

Awesome news. This and Dreams early assess today has made my day that little bit better.

@NorrinRadd ''For example, the next-gen console will still accept physical media; it won’t be a download-only machine. Because it’s based in part on the PS4’s architecture, it will also be backward-compatible with games for that console.''

@NorrinRadd Is that an actual serious question?

day 1 buy!!!!
and it is disc based right?

@Dubya75 I think it's a fair question. I wonder if you can re - download ps4 digital games onto the ps5 system? It's obvious physical sales are becoming second fiddle lately to digital sales.

@NorrinRadd "Disc or digital? Or Both?"

I have no idea why anybody would give you a down vote, it's the very first question that popped in my head while I was reading the title and this article doesn't answer it. Some people. smh

Nice name and avatar BTW. Have you actually been here w/ that name and avatar for 5 years? Surely I would have noticed either before now.

@rjejr If it can't play PS4 discs, it's not fully backwards compatible either.

The digital games we have on PS+ are a long list... Here's hoping they aren't left behind when we migrate.

But if so, I'll have to get a bigger shelf... 😏

Yes. YES!

Thank the lord! Now my overly massive library of PS4 games won't be collecting dust like my PS3 collection.

Amazing yay that's enough for backwards compatible with the PlayStation 4 games. So hopefully no more console sounding like a hairdryer and not being able to hear the game propely unless wear a headset.
Thats amazing so keep ps3 console and games and sell ps4 when the times right and if the games work ps5 wooohooo yay.

It will be very interesting to see how Sony implement this. There are 2 distinctly different PS4's and games have 'different' behaviours too. Obviously the 'base' PS4 is uniform across all games in how they look and run but the Pro can make games behave differently.

The first way the Pro works is to run the games at 'higher' resolution - the 'pro' mode but if you only have a HD TV, games can run just like the Pro mode(s) but super sample down, however you can turn super-sampling off and get HD visuals but much better frame rates. You also have a 'boost' mode for non-pro enhanced games - which can run some better but a few don't work properly.

In other words, Backwards Compatibility is more complex than just 'running' PS4 games. Will Pro enhanced games run at (or better) on a BC PS5? Will BC go the 'easier' route and just run PS4 games at 'base' PS4 specs - after all EVERY game for PS4 works - without adding Pro into the mix to complicate things. Its still full BC but whether or not the PS5 will offer advantages, offer Pro (or better) performance, I will be very interested to find out...

I knew it.no surprise there.now can it play ps3 .ps2.and ps1 games.now that's the question.word up son

Give Mark Cerny the oportunity to do Knack 3. He deserves it.

ℙ$❺ ℙ$❺ ლ(´ڡ`ლ) day one,! Now I can buy ps4 games without worry. ¯(ツ)/¯

I have bought way more games this generation than any other so this is incredibly comforting for me. It also means I won’t have a console where there is almost nothing to play on it for months. If i’m going to upgrade, i’d prefer not to have to switch to my ps4 every time I want to play kingdom hearts 3

Whoop whoop, but we all had a feeling this was gonna happen. 😉

thank freakin' lord I can play God of War and Bloodborne on next gen hardware.

This will make it far more likely that I’ll pick up the console on or close to launch. I’ll still have 20 plus unwrapped Ps4 games once the PS5 launches.

AMAZING. PS4 BC / PSVR BC, SSD, RAY TRACING !!! ... whish I could drop the caps, but... this is soooo right.

@Octane Well the Switch can't play discs but it's bc w/ almost every Wii U game, as long as your willing to rebuy them on cart for $60.

Still should have been in the article, b/c it's a question most people are going to want answered w/o having to click through the link to read the entire article on Wired looking for that paragraph which is near the end. Shogun already quoted the sentence right after, he just needed the previous sentence as well mentioning discs.

"For example, the next-gen console will still accept physical media; it won’t be a download-only machine. Because it’s based in part on the PS4’s architecture, it will also be backward-compatible with games for that console. "

hmm, that looks familiar, now where have I seen that before?

@Gremio108 god point LOL not that it would be worth anything by the time PS5 will be out.

Backwards compatibility is a huge step in me being an early adopter. The ps5 is looking tasty

@zimbogamer juicy more like, this is awesome news!

@rjejr Yeah, but this way it can be its own article

@huyi I'm tempted to sell my PS4 a couple of months before to raise some cash, but it would mean no gaming until PS5....

What about remote play for Vita 😬😬🤤 i can dream right?

That's one of my two boxes to check off. Now to wait for the other, sadly much less certain one - remote play relationship with Vita.

@Octane "this way it can be its own article"

What, you mean this article?

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2019/04/dont_worry_ps5_will_have_a_disc_drive

Almost every paragraph in that Wired article has already spawned an article. 10 articles based on 20 paragraphs so far. And that includes the opening and closing paragraphs that have no info and are only 1 and 2 sentences each. So, lets say 8 more articles to go. One of which will be a "round-up" and 1 will be a "Soapbox".

So that's PS bills paid this month.

I wonder how the Mm 12 hour Dreams Livestream is going? 😂

@Gremio108 hahaha! good luck with that, we are ok this year but next year will be a deciding factor if people want to give up their ps4s early to make some cash before they are worth nothing.

This is the best call I remember the PS4 launch, the first year was very slow for games b/c would of been useful then.

@NintendoFan4Lyf Its possible, but its also possible that, being a Playstation Exclusive, Insomniac has a version for PS5, or at the very least, a patch to take advantage of the hardware. After all, their are PS5 dev kits in the hands of 'some' developers.

These developers may NOT want to reveal PS5 specific games and its much easier to use an existing game to show off the PS5. It also helps to see something they are already familiar with improved by newer hardware.

Incidentally, Spider-Man is a game that still manages to look incredibly sharp on a Pro despite not running at Native 4k. The Pro still outputs it at '4k' as it handles the upscaling. We all know that an XB1s isn't running games very well at all, yet if the console is set to output at 4k, the games - even if they are native 720p - are output at 2160p. Much in the same way a 4k TV handles DVD's, SD TV channels etc - if they didn't, you would have a very small picture in the middle of the TV with massive black bars all around it.

Anyway, unless you know for definite that the PS5 is taking a PS4 game and running it perfectly, using the 'extra' resources to ensure its running at the maximum capped limits (2160p and 30/60fps depending on the devs 'cap' limitations) without any changes - i.e. no patch, its not wise to make assumptions.

Whether it does this for all, inc 3rd Party software and games that were not 'pro' enhanced and/or had issues with 'boost' mode, we cannot assume anything. There were some games that couldn't handle a 'minor' boost in the CPU and would crash or have other issues until you turned off Boost mode. How these behave with a PS5 with a significantly different CPU, we will have to see. It would be great to put in a PS4 game and it to suddenly run at much higher resolution and frame rates, maybe even go from Chequerboard 1800 (like GTSport is) to a native 4k without needing a patch or having to re-buy a PS5 version.

Backwards Compatibility certainly isn't a deal breaker for as I will be keeping my PS4 and PS4 Pro - especially my Pro. As such, I can easily play ANY of my PS4 games regardless. Knowing how 'difficult' it is - regardless of the fact its the 'same' basic Architecture as that is NO guarantee at all - it just makes it 'easier' to port games, to get them up and running properly - I will still be interested to see how they handle it. Whether its Total BC or partial, whether it will enhance games without a patch (even if it means any dynamic element - such as resolution and frame rates run at their 'max' capped limits - in other words, if the game is capped at 30, it runs at a locked 30fps), how it handles PS4 Pro and non-pro games because a LOT of the earlier games weren't enhanced. There are still questions to be answered and just seeing a 'pro' enhanced recent game running at 'native' 4k doesn't necessarily answer all the questions. Like I said, there were some PS4 games that couldn't handle a 'boost' mode without issue let alone run on a much high spec hardware.

@Rob_230 the vita is dead, i don't think they will be using it anytime soon it's a legacy console now, i think we will see them using remote play with tablet and phones but the use will be more compatible with more things.

That's really good news!

@huyi I refuse to accept this 😉...you are right of course!

@WillMerfi it's not going to happen, price would be too high to support those systems but it would have been nice, yeah.

@NintendoFan4Lyf I can't remember which games it was - none that had and I think they were mostly 'Indie' games that were built specifically around the PS4 CPU and its 'tick' rate. Boost mode increased the tick rate and therefore caused issues.

If you search google (or whatever search engine you use) for PS4 boost mode problems (or something like that) you will see a list of games that had issues. Obviously, these are all games from the first year or two because after 2016, the Pro launched and I would expect games to be less problematic.

We all know the XB1 is BC but that is not Total. It does have benefits when using an X which Sony could match with their PS5. They 'could' say that their PS4 games are BC which some may interpret to mean 'every' PS4 release, but they 'could' be referring to all Sony published, developed etc game - not the games built and published by 3rd Parties. Those expecting to play RDR2 for example may have to wait for the PS5 enhanced release. I am NOT saying this is the way it will be at all btw just saying that this 'could' be the way its implemented. 3rd party software could be patched (or whatever they need to do) to run on the new PS5 if they wanted. That wouldn't be different to 'Backwards Compatibility' on MS's XB1. Around 1/4 of the XB360 games are BC and that is 'enough' to be considered as a BC console so 'maybe' (again I say Maybe and NOT saying this is the case at all) Sony are matching MS.

Personally, I say BC should include ALL titles. I can't get rid of all my 360 console because all my 360 games run on the Xbox. I still need my 360 for those - not that I was considering selling it. It would be 'nice' if ALL my PS4 games will run on my PS5 and, in a lot of cases, better than they do on my Pro. Being honest, I am not overly impressed with the Pro as a 4k console but its still the 'best' place to play all my PS4 games right now. I would be more inclined to revisit, maybe even finish numerous PS4 games if they run & look better rather than the frame and resolution drops I see now.

Its OK in the first few month's when I don't have a backlog of new console games to play but when new games release, I find it increasingly difficult to go back to old games - maybe that will change as the PS4 era maybe won't look and feel as dated.

@rjejr

Yeah - I've been here that long! Actually, I read though the site every day, but I don't comment too often. Only when I have a question or something constructive to add.

Great news! Sorted for next gen! 💪🏻👍🏻

@NorrinRadd Well that would explain it. I tell myself every night to try not to post too often but then I forget by the time I wake up.

Phew!! Thank goodness for that!!

I wonder if it'll have a 'Beast mode 2' in it to supe up PS4 games to their top resolution/frame rate without drops.
Sounds like Spiderman will already be greatly improved in this regard (as good as it is already mind)
Day one!!

@huyi If it's using emulation, then it likely wouldn't add to the cost at all. How well the emulation works will depend on the PS5's hardware - PS1 is obviously no concern based on how well the PS3 could run them, but the PS2 and 3 are a little trickier (PS2 less so, if we go by the Classics releases on PS4). But it sounds like the PS5 will be pretty beefy if it's shooting for Ray-tracing so perhaps even PS3 games will run fine; though maybe they might go the Microsoft route and only allow specific games that have been tested.

Of course it all depends on if Sony wants to do it that way, if at all, or if they'll just stick to sporadically releasing legacy titles on PSN only like they've been doing already.

Doesn't sound like it will heve PS1/2&3 B/C then Thank God I didn't get hyped about that then again(it was VERY difficult not to)

My backlog problem will continue on ps5 it seems lol.

@NintendoFan4Lyf Part of me agrees with you and another part doesn't. Its obviously a bonus to be able to play games without dropping frame rates, without the focus on just resolution BUT forcing a console to do that isn't what I consider the right method.

As you know, you have to 'force' the console to output at HD and turn off super-sampling through the console settings menu. The X doesn't do that as it runs the games as they were intended to run by the developers on that console - it super-samples by default and you cannot control that.

In part, the X is the right method. The games run as intended and not letting the 'display' dictate how games perform. It should be the developers giving gamers the choice via in-game settings. It should be the devs offering a 'locked' or at least a 'performance' focussed setting in their menu. If that means dropping the resolution down to HD, then so be it. It would probably make more sense to have the choice to prioritise frame rates or prioritise resolution - which ever option you choose, that locks one aspect and dynamically scales the other (drops frames or drops resolution).

It shouldn't be a 'glitch' a by product of how the console settings are set. The fact that you have to set up the console to 'force' the game to run that way, which wasn't a planned feature - more a 'happy accident', is fundamentally the wrong way to go about this. It benefits a 'few' games but others, you just get the same effect as playing on a base PS4, you lose out on the benefits of the pro - whether that is the higher resolution for 4k TV owners or the Super-sampled image for 1080p owners - unless you quit out of the game, change the video settings in the console (output for 4k TV's or switching super-sampling back on for HD TV owners) - then boot up the game again to get those advantages back.

As I said its a 'by product' rather than a 'planned' feature which is not the right way to do things. I do think that with a greater variety of displays - from HD to 4k to 8k, SDR and HDR etc, that developers should offer much more options in their game settings menu - more like PC owners get. Options to tweak the games ourselves. Options like the resolution cap, the 'minimum' frame rate and even lock it so other aspects (like resolution for example) are dynamic - adjust to compensate for busier moments. Maybe have options to pick HD Ultra settings, 4k Medium/High settings or 8k Low-Medium settings too - give you both the highest visual settings (albeit at the lower end of resolution but perfect for HD TV owners) and highest frame rates. 4k may be the 'middle ground with 8k being the lowest frame rate mode as well as lowest settings too.

Point is, it should be built into the game - like PC owners get and not a 'glitch', a 'happy accident' like the way the Pro works...

Well I guess og PS4 owners should't upgrade to the Pro. Sounds like we should just save our money because the PS5 will offer more than the pro can anyday. Good thing Sony followed Microsoft. The end product will be much better for it.

@Octane They will jump to Knack 5 to make it a launch title. 😁

Good. As it should be.

SOLD!... This is how it should be.

I can trade in my PS4 on day one and not need to rush with what games I am still playing.

I'm less inclined to buy Ghosts, The Last of Us 2 and Death Stranding for the PS4 now. Might as well wait and play them on PS5.

There is zero chance they won't require us to re-buy PS4 digital games this will be disk based only as far as no re purch anybody that thinks otherwise is puffing on the green.

Keeping in mind that BC would be difficult to achieve with PS3, I don’t see why they wouldn’t have ps5 play psone and 2 discs either! That would be awesome!!

@SaikoWaifu2003 I will most likely trade my ps4 for a PS5 at some point. Really no point in keeping the PS4 once I have a PS5.

Amen that’s great. Now will the controller change lol.