The cat’s out the bag. Any PlayStation gamers who were hoping that Sony’s incoming next-gen system would feature expanded backward compatibility, we have bad news for you. Ubisoft has quasi-confirmed that the PS5 will only support BC functionality for PS4 games.
It sure looks like you’re better advised to keep your old PlayStation consoles hooked on your TV. The PlayStation 5 will apparently not support any games that go beyond the current generation.
We’re used to Ubisoft experiencing leaks. But those usually revolve around their own games. In what looks to be a careless act on their part, the publisher has revealed to everyone that unlike Microsoft, Sony apparently doesn’t have any interest in widening game preservation for their own retro consoles.
In fact, the Xbox brand has been the shining light in terms of backward compatibility for a long time. While the Xbox 360 sported middling BC support for the original Xbox, the doors were blown wide open with the Xbox One.
Hundreds upon hundreds of Xbox and Xbox One games can be played at no extra cost on Microsoft’s new console. Even better, the team at Xbox regularly pushes out free patches that increase the visual fidelity and basically deliver free remasters.
One aspect industry leader Sony has been painfully neglecting. The PS4 had no BC whatsoever. A first on a PlayStation home console. The success of it despite this probably led to Sony executives not giving much importance to the feature. At least for retro games.
The PS5 does indeed support backward compatibility for PS4 titles, and the goal is for every single one of them to work on the PlayStation 5. But going by Ubisoft’s statement, that’s the end of the effort. A real shame, as the mighty PS1 & PS2 in particular offer one of the best game libraries ever, with lots of exclusives that aren’t playable anywhere else.
