Update: The Ubisoft support page has been updated, and removed the mention of the PS5's backward compatibility capabilities.
For longtime PlayStation fans, few features would be more welcome in the PlayStation 5 than being able to play all of their older titles on a single machine. Such an idea was stoked last year when it was first rumored that the PS5 would be backwards compatible with all previous PlayStations. It’s a cool idea, but according to Ubisoft, the rumors aren’t true.
Fans have known for a while that Sony’s next console would feature backward compatibility, but the question has been to what extent? So far, the PS5 has only been confirmed to be compatible with most PS4 games. In the absence of official information, quite a few rumors have suggested that compatibility will include games from the previous three consoles as well, claiming this with such frequency that it seemed like a real possibility.
If Sony was actually considering full compatibility like that at one point, it isn’t anymore, if Ubisoft is to be believed. A new support page was discovered on its website today detailing the process of transitioning cross-gen games to next-gen consoles, and when it comes to the PS5, the page states, “Backwards compatibility will be available for supported PlayStation 4 titles, but will not be possible for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, or PlayStation games.”
This probably won’t come as a surprise for those who’ve been following all of the rumors and reports, as plenty of sources have cast doubt on the PS5 supporting PS3, PS2, and PS1 games. This gains an extra degree of substance coming from Ubisoft, a publisher that’s been working on games for both PS4 and PS5 lately, as the frank statement on the support page suggests it has a solid idea of how far the PS5’s backward compatibility goes by now.
It’s actually neat that the PS5 will be backward compatible at all after the PS4 ditched the feature completely (outside of a few PS3 titles that can be streamed on PlayStation Now). It’s a definite step up, but given that the PS5’s biggest competitor, the Xbox Series X, will be backwards compatible with thousands of games from across all Xbox consoles at launch, it might not be enough to satisfy fans who were hoping for more.
More and more, people are feeling that backward compatibility should become a standard feature of new consoles instead of an added bonus. Many also feel that backwards compatibility could be just as key to the next generation’s success as its advanced hardware and next-gen features. If that ends up being the case, Sony could conceivably find itself at a disadvantage with compatibility that only reaches the PS4.
The PlayStation 5 launches this holiday season.
Source: Ubisoft