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We’ve known for a while that Sony’s PS5 backward compatibility policy wasn’t going to match Microsoft’s, but the company hasn’t revealed many details to date. However, information recently published (and now deleted) on a Ubisoft help page suggests that the console’s capabilities are more limited than the competition.
Ubisoft’s Australian help site posted the following on a web page dedicated to questions about PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 multiplayer connectivity:
PlayStation 4 players will be able to join multiplayer games with PlayStation 5 players. Backward compatibility will be available for supported PlayStation 4 titles, but will not be possible for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 or PlayStation games.
In March, Sony Senior Vice President Hideaki Nishino told gamers that he expected most PS4 titles to be compatible with PlayStation 5 and the company showed the following slide:
The company never stated that it was adding support for more than just the PS4, so the news that it is limited to that platform comes as no surprise. This, however, is one of the biggest differences between Microsoft and Sony this generation. The only thing Microsoft could be doing to further improve its backward compatibility posture is adding support for older generation peripherals, and that would require some kind of physical hardware kit or dongle purchase. Sony offers a curated selection of PS2 and PS3 titles through its cloud services, but the company does not offer the physical disc support that Microsoft has embraced with the Xbox Series X.
It’s time for consoles to join PCs
Backward compatibility is a critical feature of PC gaming, from the Ctrl-Alt-Numpad Minus keyboard command to downloading an 80286 or faster PC to 4.77MHz (aka disable turbo). Make old games run not always easyBut the vast majority of PC games can be played natively or emulated, even on modern PCs. If I want to play Quest for Glory II: Trial By Fire, one of my favorite titles of all time, I can choose between the remade version or the original, no problem.
There is no reason why consoles should not offer the same functionality. When I was a kid, playing on a console meant you were playing on a completely different type of machine compared to a PC running DOS or Windows 3.1 in its default settings. The consoles did not run operating systems and lacked internal storage. They had built-in graphics and sound capabilities that were much better to play than the default DOS PC of the late 1980s. The games I played on a console and on a PC were completely different because the underlying hardware was completely different.
Today, those differences are a shadow of what they once were. The consoles do have some dedicated IP blocks, like decompression engines that enable next-gen storage capabilities from Sony and Microsoft, but this is a small thing. These systems use basic PC GPU architectures and x86 CPU designs. One of the advantages of the PC ecosystem has always been strong backward compatibility, and it makes sense for Microsoft to embrace it. Bringing compatibility to the OG Xbox allows the company to appeal to any gamer who used to own a Microsoft console and might have kept some favorite games, but hasn’t picked a side in the next update. It’s also a built-in reason for any current Xbox owner to stick with the platform. Microsoft could also be waving a flag and jumping up and down in its efforts to emphasize how seriously it takes the feature. Sony, less. As a PC gamer without a dog in this fight, demanding this kind of feature is a no-brainer to me. I don’t know how many players they are going to buy based on playing older titles, but this is an area where Microsoft seems to have an advantage.
It’s going to be an interesting launch season for both companies, but so far Microsoft appears to be the better positioned of the two, despite the loss of Halo Infinite as a launch title. At the very least, the company’s emphasis on supporting older titles allows you to talk about the benefits that Xbox Series X can bring to those games. You may have been able to work with companies to ensure smooth playback of older titles on Xbox Series X during the pandemic, even if development of launch titles inevitably slowed.
On the other hand, Sony has something in this showdown that Microsoft can’t really compete with: ownership. As the reigning champion of the last generation, Sony is supposed to have the default loyalty of a larger group of gamers. We’ll find out if that’s enough when both platforms launch later this year.
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