Reaction: Sony's Storefront Closures Put PS5, PS4 Backwards Compatibility Efforts Back in Focus

I can't see backwards compatibility happening, Sony don't care about it.

Obviously its a drain on resources..keeping them going is just using up man hours that can be better utilised on other areas..i know people will disagree with me but personally i think its a good decision as its obviously not generating enough revenue..

I'd Say Wait And See If They Have Something In Mind To Make Up For This.

@Northern_munkey

A drain on resources seems to me, in this instance, to mean they could keep probably at most 3 people on the payroll, at not much more than minimum wage, and still be able to cater to all ps1 and ps2 digital storefront needs. Sony isn't a small company, and it would seem they owe their fans at least this.

“ It’s unfathomable to think there’s no way to buy Twisted Metal or Jumping Flash and play it on a PS5 or PS4;”

Why? It was made for a ps1. If you truly cared about it you’d still have it on your ps1. If you don’t then why complain about Sony not allowing you to play it on a machine made 25 years later. You bought a ps1 and ps1 software and got what your paid for. Sony would keep it current if more than the very vocal, extremely small minority truly cared and were willing to pay much more money.

“Oh, but my grandkids will never know the joys of the original Twisted Metal!” you cry. Yet your grandkids don’t give a damn for your old-timey games and, honestly, past the nostalgia of the first 10 minutes, neither would you. Play and review them for the first time these days and they’d be slated.

I’m all for preservation - for those who care - maybe rules should be enacted which make game code open source after a certain time, and/or fair game for museums. But platform holders have no responsibility to keep engineering new devices that can play generations of games. It is not cost effective because people don’t care as much as they pretend to.

@get2sammyb Like I've Said Before They Could Use PS Now.

@kyleforrester87 agreed..

I just got a PS3 again so I can download and backup any purchases I made, just in case. I sold it years ago and I’ve been putting things off. Got a shiny SSD waiting for it, can’t wait. Thanks for the heads up about this, otherwise I wouldn’t have known!

I get that people are a bit mad about them closing the PS3, PS Vita and PSP stores but if you own games digitally or physically you can still play them. And when it comes to backwards compatibility I don't really care to play old PS3 games on my PS4 or PS5.

I get that a lot of people have a few games they want to play on current gen or last gen but do people really care enough to play a old ps1 game on a PS4 or a PS3 game on PS5 unless it has a remake or remaster.

I would rather games get remasters or get put on PS Plus or PS Now for old games.

My PS3 only has some of my favorite games downloaded on it being Hatsune Miku(first game), Kessen 3, Mass Effect 2 and Persona 4, also Yakuza 5 which is hard to play on PS3 because it looks really bad compared to the remaster. I'm perfectly fine with the PS3 store, PSP store and PS Vita store.

We will see old school games eventually through backwards compatibility. I believe in Sony.

@get2sammyb
It sounds right, but consider how much they could sell it for (£3?) and how much it would cost to make emulators for all machines. Not to mention people would complain they couldn’t unlock it with their old discs and get it free.
Also, consider the opportunity cost of customers spending their limited gaming time on cheap, or already bought, old games instead of actually buying new games...not to mention I doubt publishers would be happy.
Altering the balance between people buying new or playing old games doesn’t sound too sensible to me, bad PR be damned.

While it's sad that many of these classic games will now be harder to buy, as someone who has never purchased a digital game and intends to buy hard copies until they are no longer available, I personally don't see it as a huge loss. What's more concerning than a minor departure from from Sony's past is Sony's apparent unwillingness to match this departure form the past with any detectable focus on its future. With the PS5 essentially functioning as a PS4 pro plus and a limited catalog in the near future, on balance, I'd say Sony is focusing a little too much on the past.

Sony are making many 100s of AAA Titles Microsoft Exclusives 2nd July................Well done Son have a cigar 👏

I salute Sony for this. I want them to keep moving forward. I stopped playing ps3 when ps4 came out and got my ps5 day one and moved on from ps4. Still gotta get through some back catalogue of ps4 games but if the ps5 had more compelling games I'd have left the ps4 stuff alone too.

I suppose it was obviously going to come at some point. The PS3 and PSP are very old indeed but downloads and patches can still be done - at least for now.
The Vita is the odd case in this as there are still games coming out for it and it only went out of production about 2 years ago so why the early closure of that? Probably too entwined with the PS3 Store mechanism/servers and Sony don't seem to acknowledge they ever made a console before the PS4 now.
Has it shaken my faith in Sony? To a certain extent, yes. And I have yet to buy a next/new gen console. To be honest, the new leaders have shaken my faith in Sony and I'd prefer a return to the days of Andrew House and Shawn Layden who actually seemed to give a stuff about the brand and its legacy.

I have a digital PS5 so yeah I'm going to keep buying games from the PS Store. I do wish they would make it easier to access older games though.

@get2sammyb i respect everybodys views here and i know its a sore point for a lot of people so i hope there is some kind of resolve in the future..

I would happily pay whatever fee no matter how much to play PS3, PS2 and PS1 games on PS5, I would even re-buy all the games I already owned. I'm holding out both my hand full of easy money and Jimbo doesn't want to take them.

I'd be less fussed about BC if there weren't other hardware manufacturers that are actually taking it somewhat seriously and building an initiative around it like Microsoft

Is it the most robust thing in the world? No. OG Xbox still needs improvements and there are glaring game ommissions, but Sony definitely has a major advantage when it comes to something like this given the iconography behind their own exclusive lineup

I just want to play MGS4 without a PC or PS Now. There are so many classic PlayStation games out there I'd love to have my new console act as a hub for accessing in the future, especially since I have a greater affinity for those franchises than either of the other two console manufacturers

@Playstation I just had more faith in Sony when they were in charge.
The fact that Layden felt forced to leave after various rows with Ryan who was trying to cement his position at the expense of others seems like a company going in the wrong direction.

two things:

1. "...you’ll always have access to the software you own"
not necessarily. just a matter of time before the servers are shut down for good. years? decades? nobody knows.

2. sony better give us one last sale on the ps3 and vita. some of those legacy games fetch some riduclous price points and have not gone on sale in YEARS. as a parting gift, at least give us some steep discounts before the store closes its doors as a way to thank the community for its support over the past decade and a half!

Just wondering if Jim Ryan watches movies, reads books or listens to music from the 20th century or if it is just old games he doesn't care for.
At least we have emulation.

@get2sammyb - where's your evidence that there is a large enough audience?. to be blunt, PS4 had no backwards compatibility of any kind and yet it sold 120m (ish) units. outside of a small'ish diehard group and making some kind of PR statement, i don't think it really matters all that much. sony will have all sorts of metrics on how well its remakes did, what the uptake of PS2 classics on PS4 were, and so on.. backwards compatibility was mostly an irrelevant conversation last gen, to say that the current and a new generation of gamers will suddenly find an interest in 15+ year old games in their millions is a stretch.

infamous festival of blood is available on PS now. it doesn't run on the RSPC3 emulator for PC - pretty much like most of sony's first party PS3 games. PS now is running them on racks of PS3 boards.. if it was easy to get them running on non-cell hardware, they'd have done it by now to improve the capability of PS now if nothing else.

I do believe the problem has to do with the technical difficulties of emulating PS3, they probably been discouraging of offering PS1 and PS2 emulation because the reaction will likely be "what about PS3?"

@Enigk ps3 emulation will always be problematic unfortunately (being "playable" is one thing, but putting up with crashes, bugs and performance issues is a sin and i don't know how people can suffer through that experience). even ps2 emulation is iffy all these years later and will never be completely "dependable" like it is with 8/16 bit era emulation. ps1 is pretty darn good on the whole so there is that at least. always keep old hardware around is the lesson here.

I know this sucks, but I'm totally okay with this. Backwards compatibility is always something that sounds great in theory, but barely used by me. The ps3 games I actually do want to play again, Uncharted 2 and The Last of Us, are remastered. Yeah, I'd love to play Resistance 2 or Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction again, but it's not a deal breaker.

Replaying old games are mostly a nostalgia rush and not anything really rewarding. Games are evolving and getting better all the time. I find it hard to enjoy older games now anyway with all the quality of life enhancements we have today. I'd rather look ahead to the next great PlayStation classic than play the old ones.

Add ps1.ps2.and ps3 games on psn.max payne 2.maximo.red dead redemption.sly cooper collection.parasite eve.syphon filter.etc.make it happen sony.word up son

It's a goldmine of assets.

If you think those savvy business chappies at Sony are going to hide them all away rather then exploit a whole new PS4/PS5 owning audience by offering them up in some repackaged way, then you are more naive then you look sir!

They need to remove the old methods of purchase, before they can offer a new way (which unfortunately will mean those that bought them before will probably have to buy them again).

Before the end the year, we will see at least news on new emulation options on PS5.
We all know Sony cherishes it's history, you just have to play Astro's Playroom to see that.

I no longer care about trying to keep every game at my fingertips to play. I play them and move on. I would much prefer for Sony to focus on new games and with the new architecture between PS4/PS5 I hope that going forward this all just moves forward naturally. PS1/PS2/PS3 were all vastly different and keeping them alive just isn't worth the money for the very few that would keep buying them. Also, you can still download them so I don't see an issue.

@Porco I still have my PS1 although haven't plugged it in for ages as my PS3 did a good job playing those games. I still have my PS2 and most games but I had a few stolen unluckily with memory cards in the boxes about 11 years ago and never bought a new memory card to replace it. My launch PS3 that played PS2 games was also stolen. Maybe it's time to get a new memory card and play some classics.
I don't dabble too much in emulation so wasn't aware of the quality of all the PS systems other than knowing emulation for them exists. I would much rather a legitimate way to play old games.

Can't say this bothers me in the slightest but then again I am a recent convert to PS.

I get the nostalgia thing but the reality is no entertainment industry moves forward (or has done anyway) quicker than the gaming one. The advancements over ten years is astonishing let alone 25 years.

To me this reeks of more self-entitlememt from a selection of gamers. You can play PS4 titles on PS5, isn't that enough? For me it most certainly is. I'm not interested in playing Jet Set Willy on PS5 or the first Ratchet and Clank. More interested in Horizon Forbidden West and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.

😝

I’m buying a ps5 to play the latest games. I don’t have any real interest in playing ps2 games.

I wish sony would take a ms approach on bc, download or insert disc. Maybe not entire libraries from previous gens, but first party licenses/exclusives, if rights are an issue. It sucks that in order to play mgsiv, I have to either hunt down a ps3 and the game, or "stream" it from psnow, which is less desirable. But if i wanna play mgrising, I just insert into the xbo and game.

And with the ps5 titles being scarce, the enticement of previous titles would draw some attention in the meanwhile.

Also, make a max payne 3 remaster, or bc at least.

But I digress, would I buy games from the ps store? If sales are equivalent, elsewhere, then yes.

@Playstation https://matthewborjes.medium.com/report-shawn-layden-left-playstation-over-heated-eyepet-3-funding-argument-9b2baef3a336

As for 'Jim cares more about BC then House and Layden which is something', it doesn't seem like it at the moment. Perhaps they will announce BC for the PS5 but I somehow doubt it.

It is only about time they throw under bus our purchased downloads too. I don't trust digital at all and this is just another proof why I'm right...

"To me this reeks of more self-entitlememt from a selection of gamers. You can play PS4 titles on PS5, isn't that enough? "

No one is asking for free old games 🙄 we have our wallets ready to give to Sony and all they have to do is keep up with it's main competitor. Microsoft is making tons of new games (someone else can give u a number) along with making older games available.

Sony didn't respect their legacy games, I don't think it's that hard to make their old games playable on ps4/5.

@sanderson72 That article is quite clearly a joke. 😂

Many typical replies from the "Sony can do no wrong" faithful here. I was already pissed enough when Nintendo abandoned their virtual console business model. They were the champions of BWC until the Switch, though I blame that on the media format change.
It wouldn't be so bad if one could buy PS1/2/3 games on PS5 or PS4, but one can't do that either. PS Now and game streaming in general is still far from ideal, even on a decent connection many still have issues with streaming.

Hundreds of legally obtainable classics are about to disappear, which is a sad thought to any real gamer or advocate of preservation.

As time goes on, I will buy less digital content from Sony. This company continues to massively underwhelm and disappoint. Typical Sony and their arrogance when they get back on top.

@Col_McCafferty "To me this reeks of self entitlement from a selection of gamers"

If vouching for Sony to do what the competition is doing especially given a lot of their older content has been stranded on older hardware for years is reeking of self entitlement I seriously don't know what to tell you

Especially considering we're in an age where these older games doing well as is also sparks interest in new entries in their franchises Sony has practically everything to gain and nothing to lose from having a back catalogue of their older titles playable on their console outside just PS4, especially since PS5 can totally handle properly emulated PS3 games now. This is something Sony themselves even used to take extremely seriously and that ironically enough, Microsoft were not putting as much effort into during the 7th gen of systems

The literal headlining launch title and first true PS5 exclusive is a remake of a 2009 PlayStation 3 game. That right there shows you that respecting older properties is more than just a fad of self-entitlement and artificial hype from a minority

And funny you mention the original Ratchet & Clank when one of the big PS4 exclusives to come out during the latter half of the console's lifecycle is a remake of the original Ratchet & Clank, that better yet ties into a movie that retells the story of the original Ratchet & Clank

I still wish I could toss in one of my PS1-3 games into the PS5 and play it. The BC capability the Series X/S has definitely makes me envious. They don't even need to have the FPS Boost and auto HDR that Microsoft has. Just give a stable framerate and that would be good enough for me.

@TheFrenchiestFry You being up remakes as part of your argument but that surely proves you wrong. There is an appetite out there for remakes of old classics BUT not the mainstream desire to play these games in their original form.

I'd be up for a MGS remake but playing the original game? Nah, not at all and the majority would probably agree. Maybe not on this site but amongst other gamers out there.

They're not taking away your right to play old.games on old.hardware that you already own, just closing down the store. I mean if you don't already own some of these games by now then maybe that's because you were never interested in them in the first place.

😒

And please don't bring up MS, we all know the reason why they partly focused on BC last gen. It want down to respecting history I can tell you that!

People like you are in a minority albeit a very vocal whining minority.

@Playstation @LiamCroft Sorry, I did post it in jest! No point getting over serious about it.
However, other (more serious!) reports seem to indicate that there was a power struggle going on behind the scenes with Jim Ryan.
https://gamedaily.biz/article/1256/shawn-layden-departs-sony-amid-restructuring-confusion-and-potential-power-struggle

@Juanalf They'd rather you spend your money on new games which cost millions of dollars to make, not games that are now part of gaming history. Where they belong.

@Col_McCafferty It being a remake doesn't change the fact it's an old game

There's even less of an argument to be made for Demon's Souls because it's literally a shot for shot recreation that just looks visually improved

It still proves that there's going to be an appetite for older games regardless of how far consoles go in terms of advancements. Don't want me bringing up Microsoft? Fine, I'll bring up Steam then, where loads of 6th and 7th gen titles are not only still available for mass consumption but also play and look considerably better without losing the integrity of the original game compared to consoles, and they STILL sell well, for recent examples, see how an 8 year old PS Vita game went from a modest success with a dedicated following, to literally the most concurrently played JRPG in Steam history even dethroning FFXV's record, which is a newer game by about 4 years.

There's also Square porting over stuff like the PS1 and PS2 Final Fantasy games, publishers like Capcom releasing batches of games in physical collections while being relatively unaltered from how they were before, and even Sony themselves getting games like the first three Uncharted titles or Heavy Rain ported to a newer platform. There's literally no reason why they couldn't be putting more effort into stuff like this because they lready shown themselves they have the means to do so. It's not entitlement at all considering after these stores shut down the only reliable way to play most of these games would be to buy a PlayStation Classic (which is a pale imitation of the SNES Classic) or just the original hardware which is only easy to come by depending on where you look

I'm sure a lot of people on social media are just making noise for the sake of it, and don't really care at all... they just want some attention for 5 minutes, as is the norm these days.

It's not like they haven't been available for at least 10+ years now, and it seems to me that anyone who genuinely had any interest in the digital versions of these old games would have long since purchased them, and for those who have, they're not going away.

@TheFrenchiestFry Don't care about Steam nor any records broken on there.

If you still have a PS1 or 2/3 then play games on that console. Sony should focus on new games and also upgrading PS4 titles for PS5 like HZD. Much better use of their time then worrying about 'ancient' games that are no longer relevant.

You're all griping about nothing.

Not the best optics. I wonder how much Sony sells on those stores prior to this announcement. But hoping they figure out how to make their legacy more present.

@Col_McCafferty

Yes. We also shouldn't watch any old movies cause you know... They're old.

OK hands up, who has played a PS4 game on the PS5?

Yes backwards compatibility is important

@Spyroescape Not the same thing at all. Films made twenty to thirty years ago don't look all that different from most films made today. Games on the other hand look mightily different. The technology has made leaps and bounds over the past decade let alone even longer.

Twenty years ago The Fellowship of the Ring was released but it still holds up today. Could you say the same about any AAA game made in that year compared to say The Last of Us Part II? No, you can't.

@Col_McCafferty graphically no but gameplay wise, many still hold up. We have HD versions of Resident Evil games from the PS2/Gamecube generation which with a bump in resolution are still great today. Or the PS1 Final Fantasy games with their slight makeovers, its not had to imagine an emulator increasing the internal resolution of these like the Xbox does to great effect and them still looking nice today, I've played Silent Hill 2 at 1080p on PC and it's still a good looking and great playing game. Then on Switch 8 million people paid full price for 3 Mario games with little enhancement, so there's a market for some of these old games at least

It'd be nice for them to do it as it's not that easy to get these consoles looking good on modern displays. Worst case scenario I'll just play them on Retroarch which is pretty great these days

This is disappointing news, but it's really not all that surprising. I think the saddest part is not being able to buy the first wave of Indies for PS3, etc. anymore. This doesn't effect me personally, but if someone picked up a secondhand PS3 today they would effectively be locked out of a large piece of its library.

The optics are bad for Sony, there's no denying it. And depending on how much weight you put in optics, Microsoft definitely is winning the features and services war this gen. But this is the kind of thing that is hard to measure. It's not making me consider buying a Series X - I still have a huge PS4 library that will work on PS5 so everything else is kind of moot.

I'd like to seeSpny do better, but it may not really matter.

As expected, we got people in the comment section defending this ass clownery *****.

@Col_McCafferty Not every game needs to have incredible graphics to be good. Undertale looks like it could have been made in the 90s yet it did so well. I personally think HZD is a bland game and would prefer to play Kula World any day of the week.

Like how does wanting to play play your PS1 library on PS5 make you self-entitled? Its certainly capable of it and I'm pretty sure it won't take any money and resources away from AAA titles cause why would it?

Like this whole I need to join a console gang thing is so stupid. These big companies will try and do whatever they want and their loyalist will defend them because who the hell knows why.

@Col_McCafferty you say you don’t want to play any old games and then you say Sony should focus on upgrading PS4 games for PS5?

@K1LLEGAL upgrading games from the previous gen isn't really a stretch but PS1 and PS2 titles? That's ridiculous.

@Spyroescape Kula what?! HZD bland? That's nonsense mate and just serves to highlight what crappy taste you have.

In terms of graphics I was referring more to AAA games anyway more than Indies. Something like Undertale has value even today but it's still a pretty niche title and doesn't shift hardware.

It's not about defending by the way, it's more I don't understand why some people have a problem with not being able to play 20 year+ old games on a shiny new console. It seems some gamers really do want their cake, to eat it and to then receive further cakes!

It makes no difference to me either way but I just don't get the hysteria nor the demand.

@EVIL-C Nonsense Sony and any other company can do wrong. Im the biggest Sony fan around but no company is holy.

I never buy digital only if there no other option and even then i just skip a lot of games Limited Run Games gave me the option too get these indies and i gladly pay the price for it.

But i recently bought a SNES too relive my youth. And the annoying part it was no longer there. I found out that some things are better in my memories. The great thing about it i can get my physical stuff without Nintendo or Sony.

But if Sony will release a remake / remaster Legend of Dragoon i will buy it day one. Im just going check out ebay a lot more now. I rather see a modern game or atleast with upgraded graphics they can keep the turnbased i love that.

If Sony does not want too give me a few of my greatest PS1 memories ill gladly buy them somewhere else and cut them out of the equation.

@K1LLEGAL A PS4 game isnt a old game for me its a quite recent game. I see a old game like more then a generation ago.

@thefourfoldroot So there is a solution to selling the games for £3.

Add PS1 and PS2 games to the Playstation Plus Collection. You know, those 20 PS4 games you get for free.

Maybe use it as an excuse to bump the price, chaching, Sony makes even more recurring revenue that they are already raking in.

@Col_McCafferty "Kula what?! HZD bland? That's nonsense mate and just serves to highlight what crappy taste you have."

Lool, what? Am I supposed to like what you like?

HZD and Spider-man are bland games to me mate. But you must be like 14 or something. Probably never experienced the amazing MGS4.

Love a bit of retro, digging around the store for old favourites and finding hidden gems.

Chrono Cross has never been available in the UK, thanks to the PS3 US store I was able to play it, legally.

If they ever shutdown PSN on the PS3 and I can't access my purchases then at that point ill never trust them again and will make nothing but physical purchases in the future. But Sony as a company is definitely going backwards while MS just keeps making the right moves.

Vita is the only one that bothers me. But overall, I’m not as upset as some people are. I haven’t played a legacy console game in a long time except for Vita. I will miss the ability to buy Vita games but I have several sitting in my backlog that I still haven’t played. (I’m looking at you, Soul Sacrifice and Freedom Wars)

If Sony had any sense they'd list everything on the store for 99p until shutdown day, they'd take a buttload of money for not doing a lot. In a few days you can't buy them anymore anyway, so why not?

At least they’ve retained the download list, it could have easily gone the way of the Wii had Sony so desired. I won’t purchase digital games again in future though, as a collector I prefer physical. I’m currently trying to buy physical versions of some of the digital games I own, and this is only going to drive up prices.

@rjc-32 You can still redownload games on Wii though lol. 😂

@Col_McCafferty At this point it's not even going to mean anything if you have any of the older systems

With the knowledge that digital versions of these games are now about to get mass-deleted it's almost certain selling prices for physical versions in the chance you missed out are about to get jacked the hell up, and in the case of certain titles like Persona 2 Innocent Sin which is ludicrously expensive secondhand and ONLY available on PSP/Vita right now, they're practically gone forever unless they get ported to something else, which knowing Atlus will probably not happen whatsoever. Same thing with games like Dracula X Chronicles or even Metal Gear Solid 4

It's not as easy as "if you have another system you can play it"

If stuff like Persona 4 Golden or the Danganronpa games weren't straight up ported to PC they'd practically be next to impossible to find now without paying ridiculous premiums with how expensive they are now for the most part, even secondhand

@TowaHerschel7 No you can’t

I’m kinda thinking they might put these classic titles on PSNow to make it more appealing than before. But time will tell.

@rjc-32 Yes you can lol. I can redownload my games zero problems as can anyone else lol.

@TowaHerschel7 It's the same situation as Sony. You can't purchase anything new, but your games library is redownloadable.

@Spyroescape 14?! Ha, I wish!

If you can't get any enjoyment out of a game as well made and good to play as HZD then I kind of feel sorry for you.

Anyhoo, not bothered by this news. Thought the stores were closed anyway. And Vita? People still play on that let alone but new games? Crazy.

I'll continue to buy purely as even if an indie gets a limited run style physical release most of them charge like a herd of elephants for postage to Down Under on top of conversion rates!😕
Though the ability to redownload is thankful, the abandoning of the back catalogue of classics with no legitimate alternative into the ps4/ps5 ecosystems is sad as it is short-sighted.
As for the "improvements to the ps4/ps5 shopfront",you mean categories,basic filters like A-Z,or price points,or even screenshots & trailers like the legacy psn had when integrated with the rest of the PSN?!🙄
Or managing PSN sales which gives all devs/indie publishers to participate rather than heavily curated ones with the same games every 2-3 months most of the time?

This absolutely is cataclysmic for games as art. So much content – full games and add-ons – are still exclusive to these systems, but rather than throw some of their opulence at respecting decades of legacy content, countless developers’ works, Jim “who would play this?” Ryan would rather slash and burn to purely profit. This is a blow to games as art and cultural cataloguing, only mitigated by pirates who are doing the morally correct work of ensuring future generations can access this trove of gaming history.

I’ve been thoroughly disillusioned against Sony over this, finally jostled to stop caring so much about playing any given game specifically on PlayStation. Past NieR RepliCant, I doubt I’ll look to PlayStation in particular anymore, and fall back on PC gaming, where my friends mostly are, and where I can more readily rely on availability and playability, whether through legal means or not. This is going to be an exhausting few months sussing out what is still bound to the systems Sony has all but abandoned, and it straight pisses me off that a company so integral to the history of this industry is singly throwing this all away. At least Nintendo had the excuse of relying on an external service for the Wii Shop, but PlayStation? Purely the negligent aims of profits over passions.

Our download list is only available for "the foreseeable future".

The next step is that we lose everything that we've purchased.

Brilliant marketing Sony!

The week before I got my PS5(& I was 100% sure it couldn't play my PS1/2&3 games) I put away all my PS1/2&3 PS discs in the cupboard It was a SAD day for me as that is a part of my life. It would be cool if SONY could do something on the PS5 so people could play their older discs somehow but I can't see it ever happening

I would pretty much do anything to be able to play Vib-Ribbon on my PS4 (and hopefully on my future PS5, if I ever get one). That's all I came to say. Vehemently.

As someone who tends to just upgrade (consoles, anyway) and move on, it's not a problem for me.

As a PS Now user, i hope this just means they add more PS1-PS3 titles to it and give us the option of downloading them to our consoles for native play.

I think its pretty aggressive from Sony to pull the plug and only give a few months, I think that they should have given at least a year especially as they were selling Vita Dev Kits until about a month ago.

Sony is clearly returning back to their PS3 era hubris and their behavior leaves an acrid taste in my mouth, they clearly have contempt for both their customers and the developers on their platform it seems. As Sony are going back to their PS3 ways, I think I will too and wait maybe two-three years before picking up a pre-owned PS5. I'll be able to pick up most of the physical games for pennies in the pound, and just stick to PS4, PC and Switch.

I hate to be the party pooper here but I really don't understand why people buy next gen consoles but always want to play 25+ years old games on them. Also understand that people pining for these storefronts to always remain open and cater to them are in the minority. I hate to use that fact but it is indeed a fact. Think of how few people must still use the PS3 store 15 years after the consoles launch. I'm sure it's quite minimal.

@Spyroescape Shout out to Kula World! Love that little fragile bouncy dude

@TheFrenchiestFry Yep, and for a popular system like the PS3, which is still commanding high prices for used consoles, those are likely to shoot up on places like eBay. When Nintendo discontinued support for the 3DS recently, I sold my 2DS for nearly $200. And when I bought the thing, it cost me $75. So, you're right. If you care about these systems, don't wait until the stores close!

@AhmadSumadi You're not a party pooper, it's a valid question. Part of the reason I always desire backwards compatibility is because when you have been playing for a long time, you start to end up with too many systems because of all the stupid exclusives. It would be nice if there was a way to consolidate them.

I no longer do this because it just got out of hand, so I took consolidation into my own hands through emulation. But as an example, I used to own a Sega Saturn JUST to be able to play Virtual On and Layer Section. That's a huge piece of plastic just for two games. I had a PSOne just for Symphony of the Night. I have an NES, SNES, and N64 (those are staying no matter what.) So all of those things start to take up a lot of space. Luckily, emulation of the Saturn has gotten insanely good, so consolidating my library has never been easier.

While I can't speak for others, I'll say that it just has to do with minimizing the number of consoles we all have laying around. And don't get me started on the games preservation topic, which I feel strongly about!

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@BloodNinja fair enough. I'm the guy who moves on from the previous gen as soon as I get the next gen console. This gen is the first time I've kept the previous console alongside the next gen. Once PS5 becomes a staple in everyone's household I'll be giving my PS4 to one of the younger kids in my family.

Also, emulation is the way I've decided to go. I love having a digital library as I'm a complete minimalist and don't even hang pictures in my home lol. Bought the PS5 digital because I don't intend to buy any disc-based games.

@TJF588 You make a great point, especially for the developer standpoint. You reminded me of one of my martial arts students. At the time, he happened to be the president of Insomniac games. He worked on the Ratchet & Clank series, and Resistance: Fall of Man and was very, very proud of his work.

Sadly, he had to step down from game development, because their investors put their company through one of the most brutal crunch times I've ever heard of. Almost all the employees were living in the office for weeks at a time. They had basic amenities and such, but spending so much time away from their families was taxing on their mental and physical health, and my student developed chronic health problems as a result of the investors wanting their team to crunch.

My point is that this story is the tale of many, and so many developers have gone through hard work and insane crunch and it is going out the window because Sony only cares about their bottom line.

@AhmadSumadi That's understandable, some people like to keep things fresh! There's no shame in wanting to move forward to the next thing.

Emulation is amazing right now, and it's only going to get better. It's pretty much the only way to preserve anything of worth that is found on consoles. While I still have a few of my legacy systems, I know eventually they will cease to function so it's nice having it backed up on a nice gaming rig.

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@TowaHerschel7 How are you doing that? When I owned a Wii, the store would never load after the shutdown, so I could not download anything I had previously purchased. I no longer own the darned thing, thanks to emulation, but I am still curious.

Can someone explain what this means in regards to actual backwards compatibility, though? Which to me means being able to take all of the PS2 and PS3 games on my shelf, and play them in a PS5.

Buying a new digital version of an old game isn't backwards compatibility. Its a re-release to make money off of.

Backward compatibility did not help Xbox1 vs the PS4. PS4 outsold it by a mile

PS5 is the fastest selling platform in US history. XSX backward compatibility did nothing to prevent that.

Nintendo is selling everyone their Wii/WiiU games back at $60. I did not get to keep anything on Switch (still bought one at launch, do not care)

Most people do not care. I wanted to play Miles Morales on PS5, not some archaic PS1/PS2 game you can emulate on your phone.

@Agramonte To be fair to the Xbox One BC was implemented post-launch on a wider scale to my knowledge, and original Xbox games didn't even come until 2017 prior to the One X launching so it wasn't really a reason to get the system before that point

Nintendo re-selling Wii U games at least makes logical sense from the perspective that a lot of people didn't own a Wii U at all and for them they're basically new games. The pricing is something I'm on and off about especially in some cases like DKC Tropical Freeze but Nintendo were also basically sitting on a giant back catalog of games as a result of the install base on Wii U being super low

It's still nice to have the option if it's possible considering it's only another benefit to a console already selling well. Honestly I wouldn't have tried to get a PS5 as early as I did had it not been backwards compatible with PS4 games because if you take that out of the equation the launch lineup looks super mediocre given there's only one true exclusive and a bunch of cross gen stuff

Looks like the new Sony at its worst. I don’t have either new console yet but I’m seriously considering going w Xbox this generation. I love Gamepass on the Xbox one X. Sony needs to show me something to get excited about.

@F1at8mot0 Simone just pointed out how the other console manufacturers also conduct practices like this but for some reason people always say this is “Sony at its worst” as if the others don’t partake in similar practices.

@AhmadSumadi that is true but right now Sony seems to care less about its legacy than Microsoft. I love PlayStation I’ve been w then since 1996. I just hope they show me something that I can get excited about. As of right now they haven’t.

@F1at8mot0 I don’t think any console has me excited to be honest. I have PS5 and all I’m playing are PS4 games. I’ve never been an XBOX fan so I haven’t owned one since 360. I used to be hardcore Nintendo but now I like Nintendo least of all because that company always seems to never catch any flack for the shady things it does.

@BloodNinja Just go to your downloads list as usual. It's still located at the bottom of the store. All your games would still be listed there, however Wii games are tied to your console so buying a new one would not allow you to regain your downloads, unfortunately.

@TheFrenchiestFry

It never helped, not pre 2017 or after - it also did not create any momentum to help the XSX compete against the PS5 now.

Everyone knew before launch that the PS5 would have no PS1/PS2 BC. PS5s still sell out in minutes 4 months later.

I had a WiiU so it did affect me. And it is not just WiiU games. I have no access to my copy of Mario 64 or Super Mario Galaxy on Virtual Console on Switch either. I need to buy them over or keep my old hardware.

Yep - You can play PS4 games on PS5. And they still on the store. You have access to 99% of 8 years of great PS4 games available on PS5. And free PS5 upgrades to a bunch of them - plus 20 PS+ games collection - plus the Free Play at home promotion - plus PSN Wednesday sales

It all sounds great to me.

@TowaHerschel7 That’s probably the issue I faced. Oh well, emulation saved me : )

@Agramonte But it did help. That's the thing, MS is playing a long game. Sony is thinking in terms of short-term profit windfalls. But MS is recovering from a disaster that would have tanked a company without the discretionary funding they have. Series consoles are selling excellently, not bad from a revived corpse. How did they manage that turnaround? By proving over years they'll commit to things like BC, subscription services, value, etc. Did they sink PS overnight? No, it's not a zero sum game. But they're winning hearts and minds as they go, while Sony seems to like breaking them with reckless abandon under current leadership. MS is generating good will and drawing people to take interest in the brand they're hearing good things about. It doesn't mean they dominate the industry in a single console launch. It means they see steady growth over years and wait for Jim to keep putting an arrow to Sony's knee until one day Sony's playing catch-up (under a new president.)

@AhmadSumadi One big appeal to BC is the old PS3 tagline "It Only Does Everything." Well we might not need an all in one movie/music/game player. But one game box with your entire library at your fingertips is a big win. That's one appealing thing about XB. I can play anything from Sonic Adventure, Jade Empire, KotR and Set Set Radio through Fenyx and Hitman 3 all on one box as the mood strikes me. I get a little of that with PS5, PS4, and those handful of PSP/VIta/PS3 remasters on the box. But I'd love to pick up Soul Sacrifice, Heavenly Sword, Chrono Cross, Sly 4, Tales of Symphonia all one on PS box. And I can't.

@sanderson72 Totally agreed with your take on Layden and House. Yes, they did screw up the BC history, but also kept it up and running, and seemed a lot more committed to the brand than merely short term profits and investor appeasement. Both were lifelong Sony guys. For Layden to leave....he spent his life there, the right-hand of the CEO in Tokyo. That's not a good omen when the corporate lion from the European sales office's star is rising and forces out people that were the lifeblood of the brand from its early days.

Clearly Jim is really good for profits. In the typical western sense of execs good for profits. The problem is they tend to expend the brand value all at once to maximize immediate returns, and then take a golden parachute on the way down.

@Wilkens I'm not worried about PS5 having a future. If you think PS5's start is bleak, you must have missed PS4's launch. I played Killzone and Knack and then it collected dust for the next 2+ years while the 3DS and WiiU got a workout. "Greatness Awaits" was more than a slogan, it was an admission.

I'm somewhat worried about PS5 having a future that personally appeals much to me, though, when they repeat that await for greatness in a few years. The trend in their output has been largely of content that isn't aligned to my interests.

@kyleforrester87 $20 says Cyberpunk is back on PSN before folders exist on PS5, lol

You teased it here. How about an article or series covering some of the best PS3, etc. games we should buy before it's too late.

There is no way in Hell these games will be available "in perpetuity" and Sony hasn't made any promise that they will. That's just another announcement down the line, and by that point more people will have moved on and it won't be as big a PR issue for them. Combined with the CMOS battery issue, it's feasible that all of the digital games you've purchased on PS3 won't be playable at all. And the fact that Jim Ryan's sole observation on backwards compatibility or games preservation is a pathetic shrug, then I have no confidence in Sony respecting my hard earned money. This seriously makes me question going all in on digital - the obvious benefit is convenience, but if that perk comes with no promise that the software will remain playable in "perpetuity", then I'll stick to discs.

since mike ryan has taken over ; this decisions are not the best. im not surprised as mike ryan was against backwards compatibility before he was head of sony and also saying 600 odd gb is big enough for a hard drive; he is so out of touch for what sony fans want

@Playstation - 'PS3 has no BC with PS1 and PS2'

What on earth are you talking about? Launch PS3's have hardware based PS2 BC and every PS3 has BC for disc based PS1 games via emulation.