Understandably, one of the most important questions about the latest PlayStation console is whether or not it will be compatible with PS4 games. Although we don’t know how much the PS5 will cost exactly, it definitely won’t be cheap. So it makes sense that gamers want to know if the PS5 will provide additional value by being compatible with PS4 games.
Also, there are many great games for the PS4. For someone who has never had a PlayStation console, compatibility with the PS4 is a great factor to consider before buying a PS5.
PlayStation is constantly releasing new information as we get closer to launch, so the jury is still awaiting a few things. But read on to find out everything we know so far!
Will the PS5 be backward compatible?
The short answer is yes! The PS5 will finally have compatibility with more than 4,000 PS4 games. Sony is trying to review each individual title with the developers and publishers to make sure that each game can be played smoothly on the new console. Although they have a large library of games, Sony seems confident that they can get the job done.
Related: Sony PlayStation 5: Design and tons of confirmed games (Updated: June 11)
While not all 4,000 PS4 titles will initially be compatible with the PS5, Sony’s goal is for the PS4’s Top 100 Games to be compatible by the PS5 release date. They determined the top 100 games on PS4 based on the amount of time players around the world spent playing them.
Sony has previously stated that PS4 games being played on the PS5 console will improve with higher frame rate and higher resolution. So every game we know and love on the PS4 will receive a facelift for the PS5.
List of PS4 games that will be backward compatible with the PS5
Although Mark Cerny, the main architect of the PS5, has confirmed that almost 100 of the most played titles on the PS4 will be compatible with the PS5 at launch, he has not specified exactly what games they will be.
We can only assume that the titles below will be part of that list. If you’re wondering if your favorite game will be included, check out a list of the most popular or most played titles on PS4, and you can get a pretty good idea of what might be supported.
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- God of War
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Supervision
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Spiderman
- Person 5
- Ghosts of Tsushima
- The last of us (parts 1 and 2)
- Control
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
- Borderlands 3
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Monster Hunter: World
- Stranded death
See also: Sony PlayStation 5 games: all PS5 game announcements in one place
Will previous PS consoles be compatible with PS5?
If you’re wondering if PS3 / PS2 games will have PS5 compatibility, the answer is more or less. The physical disk versions of the PS2 and PS3 games are not known to be compatible with the PS5 at this time, although that could change with future news from Sony Interactive.
However, PlayStation Now, or PS Now, is coming to PS5. PlayStation Now is a cloud-based streaming service from PlayStation that lets you choose which games you want to play on multiple generations of PlayStation consoles. Think of it like Netflix, only with PlayStation games. Some games stay there for what seems like forever, and some games expire after just a year of being there.
It is unclear at this time how much the service will cost on Sony’s PlayStation 5 – will the price stay at $ 9.99 a month or increase? But it is confirmed that PS Now will definitely hit PS5. Therefore, there will be selected games from the PS2 and PS3 eras that you can play on the PS5.
Will PS5 games work on PS4?
No, unfortunately not. PS5 games are specifically optimized for the updated internal hardware of the PS5. Therefore, they will not be compatible with the PS4’s internal hardware.
PS5 games will work flawlessly with the highest SSD speed, ray tracing, and 4K resolution that comes with the PS5. All that technological goodness means PS5 games will look great on the PS5 console, but they just can’t work with the PS4’s hardware components.
Check out: Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X: what we know about each and how they compare