Sony doesn't yet know if the PS5 will be backward compatible with all PS4 games, the company has revealed. The company has made several major announcements about the next-gen console this week, confirming the PS5's release window and specs, but it has yet to reveal how the backward compatibility will work.
Speaking to Japanese language publication Famitsu, Sony said that "Currently, the dev team is putting all power on verifying whether they can secure a complete compatibility." The company also asked its fans to "please wait for more information," tweeted Twitter user bk2128 in a translation of what Sony said. It's unclear whether Sony is suggesting that not all PS4 games will be available on PS5 or if some parts of PS4 games, such as trophies, multiplayer features, or DLC, will not be available on the console.
Sony has said that backward compatibility is an important part of what it is trying to do with the PS5. In April, 2019, Mark Cerny suggested that as the PS4 and the PS5 have the same sort of system architecture and so it wouldn't be so difficult to get PS4 games working on PS5. As the system architect for the new console, Cerny knows what he's talking about and as backward compatibility was one of the first few confirmed PS5 features, it seems unlikely that Sony will go back on that.
Backward compatibility is also a big reason why Sony has put more resources into its PlayStation Now streaming service. Sony has just given PlayStation Now a price cut, allowing subscribers to pay a lower fee to enjoy PS3 games on PS4. Sony is also working with Microsoft to develop game streaming technology. It's unclear whether the PS5's backward compatibility would be fixed to PlayStation Now or if it would use discs, like the Xbox One's backward compatibility, and this may be one of the things that the development team is working on.
Sony revealed a huge amount of information about the PS5 this week, also sharing new details about the PS5's new controller and it will address a major UI issue that PS4 players had. However, there is more than a year to go until the console is released and Sony has said that it plans to fully reveal the console in 2020. Hopefully, the next time fans hear about the PS5, Sony will have more to say about backward compatibility.
Source: Famitsu