What does the Xbox One backwards compatibility mean for the PS4 and PlayStation Now?

There’s a joke begging to be written that talks about backwards actions, Xbox One, and the great Polish people, but it’s eluding me. Nevertheless, two of those three things were on display this morning at the Microsoft E3 2015 press conference — backwards compatibility and Xbox One (I’m sure there were Polish people there, but they weren’t on display).

In one single announcement, Microsoft went and shocked the gaming world by revealing that the Xbox One is gaining backwards compatibility functionality, which is something we were all hoping would be included in both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Even though no one has really complained about backwards compatibility in a while, it's a feature many would appreciate — and may be a reason to stay gaming on last-gen consoles since you've spent so much money on those games. Only a small amount of Xbox 360 games will be supported at first, but the list will grow, and your Xbox 360 library won’t go to waste if you decide to get rid of your 360. And it’s free! I know it sounds crazy that we’re excited about being able to play games we already bought for free, but that’s becoming something less common as technology advances.

The PlayStation 4 doesn’t support backwards functionality. Instead, they have a service called PlayStation Now where you pay a monthly fee to stream PlayStation 3 games on your PS4 — or you could rent games. There’s no ready fix for playing your PS3 games on your PS4. Maybe it’s because Sony has been the belle of the ball ever since their stance on no online check-ins, that we’ve all been so enamored with the PS4 since then, but it’s kind of shocking that Microsoft is the one to offer a solution that doesn’t feel like another revenue stream. Although, I should point out that Sony does not see PlayStation Now as a form of backwards compatibility.

It just feels like Microsoft is really listening to the fans.

So what is going to happen with PlayStation Now? I have a hard time believing that Sony didn’t know that Microsoft was going to make that announcement. So are they going to announce something similar tonight? I don’t think Sony wants the PlayStation to be one-upped at E3. And even though Sony doesn’t consider PlayStation Now to be a backwards compatibility option, that’s not how the public is going to see it. They’re going to see Sony charging gamers to player PS3 games on their PS4, while Microsoft allows their users to play their 360 games on their Xbox One consoles. It’s just something that the PS4 doesn’t have, and that’s big for Microsoft as they play catch up.

Like Microsoft said at their press conference, “With Xbox One backward compatibility, we won’t charge you to play the games you already own.”

We’ll see if Sony makes a similar claim when they kick off their E3 2015 press conference at 9:00pm ET.