For multi-platform players, will you switch to building your library on other platforms after learning how PS5 backward compatibility will work?

[Arthands]

Before 'The Road to PS5', we were under the wrong assumption that all PS4 titles will be compatible with the PS5 day one, because they have the same architecture. That its safe to buy PS4 games on the PSN because we can be sure they will carry over to the PS5

It turned out we were wrong, that Sony isn't committing to making full PS4 library compatible on the PS5. They are starting with nearly 100 games for launch and promises to expand that over time, but we do not know how much they are committing beyond the initial (nearly) 100 games.

That said, its probably too late to salvage everything but at least we can minimize our loss by purchasing our games on other platforms from here on, right? We can switch to continue building our digital library on other platforms from here on. We can make gaming haul in the next sales period, buying lots of old games on cheap. We can then dispose or trade in without worrying that they won't carry over when we upgrade to the new machines, and continue our backlog without interruption. With all digital games streamlined on a xbox, we won't need to switch between current and next gen machines on a single TV.

 

[CannonFodder52]

I'm definitely thinking about this. I've primarily bought games for the PS4 this gen, but I've slowed down now as I try to figure out which next gen console to get first and which has BC.

 

[salromano]

It turned out we were wrong, that Sony isn't committing to making full PS4 library compatible on the PS5. They are starting with nearly 100 games for launch and promises to expand that over time, but we do not know how much they are committing beyond the initial (nearly) 100 games.

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I still have a feeling this is inaccurate. The PlayStation Blog summary does not reflect what Cerny said:

"Running PS4 and PS4 titles at boosted frequencies has also added complexity. The boost is truly massive this time around and some game code just can't handle it. Testing has to be done on a title-by-title basis. Results are excellent, though. We recently took a look at the top 100 PlayStation 4 titles as ranked by play time and we're expecting all of them to be playable at launch on PlayStation 5. "

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Sounds like he was just saying that, in their testing of PS4 games on PS5, they decided to try out the top 100 to see how they would go, and since a few had issues, there may have to be some tweaking on a title-by-title basis.

 

[Twister]

Yes, I'm not going to be buying multi-platform games on PS4 anymore. I will buy them on Switch or PC. I already wasn't too interested in the PS5 but this was the final nail in the coffin

 

[defaltoption]

Yes but I've moved to pc supplemented by game pass where applicable (until it's on steam sale), I'll probably never buy another 3rd party game on Sony hardware. I've been burned multiple times now.

 

[Toumari]

I was under the impression based off what Cerny said that the vast majority of PS4 games do support BC, whilst around 100 games (at launch) will take advantage of boost from PS5.

 

[LewieP]

As things stand, if a game is confirmed to be a smart delivery game on Xbox, and a big question mark on PlayStation, I would more likely buy it on Xbox.

This would not have been the case if Sony had made the same kind of commitments as MS did.

But we'll see how things progress.

 

[Blackbird]

I'm definitely thinking about this. I've primarily bought games for the PS4 this gen, but I've slowed down now as I try to figure out which next gen console to get first and which has BC.

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Same, i'm a bit on the "waiting and see" approach since there's still some time left till release, but as of now, i'm heavily considering packing up some content on a newer Xbox account.

Let's see if they keep showing good stuff with backwards compatibility.

 

[Ghos]

Oh boy. They really messed up the messaging this time around.

 

[pswii60]

I still have a feeling this is inaccurate. The PlayStation Blog summary does not reflect what Cerny said:



Sounds like he was just saying that, in their testing of PS4 games on PS5, they decided to try out the top 100 to see how they would go, and since a few had issues, there may have to be some tweaking on a title-by-title basis.

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I think the "We recently.." is basically a separate paragraph and not related to boost mode talked in the previous sentence.

 

[Guymelef]

Man, the BC fears... lol.
It's not that different from what Sony said with Pro mode on PS4 Pro or with PSN nick change, they just put you on the worst case scenery and at the time of truth almost everything is going to work without problems.

 

[convo]

I still have a feeling this is inaccurate. The PlayStation Blog summary does not reflect what Cerny said:



Sounds like he was just saying that, in their testing of PS4 games on PS5, they decided to try out the top 100 to see how they would go, and since a few had issues, there may have to be some tweaking on a title-by-title basis.

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And yet still he refers to PS4 games running in boosted mode being a challenge, but before that he talks about it the legacy PS4 and PS4 pro modes that are shown right on the slide. It's not a mirage. I presume legacy modes offer no perfomance or resolution gains while the tested games running at peak clock speeds have shown to run better with little problems. PS4pro boost mode had the disclaimer that it wouldn't be universally optimal for games that didn't support its boost mode hence why it wasn't always on that mode and i think this is the exact kind of issue the 100 games were tested for.

 

[Boy]

Instead of having a knee jerk reaction, i'll wait till the system launches and then decide.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I'm not entirely certain I'm going to buy a PS5 at all, but if I do it'll be after a year or two so that'll give them time to figure their shit out if they even care enough to bother with it.

It's just a shame their messaging has been so bad and so fumbled. They should've clarified after that mess of a presentation yesterday considering how much confusion people have over the topic, but instead it's just right back to radio silence again.

 

[Loud Wrong]

Was already switching to Xbox because of the power difference and superior B/C and services. I'll get a PS5 down the line probably. I was surprised at how half assed Sony's BC plan came across, but they have plenty of time to clarify it.

 

[smurfx]

i'm sure most of my games will probably work but i do hope sony copies ms and offers free upgrade to the ps5 version for late gen games coming out on ps4.

 

[Toumari]

I still have a feeling this is inaccurate. The PlayStation Blog summary does not reflect what Cerny said:

Sounds like he was just saying that, in their testing of PS4 games on PS5, they decided to try out the top 100 to see how they would go, and since a few had issues, there may have to be some tweaking on a title-by-title basis.

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Yeah, that's how I read it. Sony really needs to clarify on this to end this confusion.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

With Steam's fantastic Japanese support (and Japanese indie support) I'm leaning more and more into focussing my third party purchases on there.

 

[Rowsdower]

As of now, I'll only buy first-party games and timed exclusives on my PS4 (Nioh 2, FF7 remake). All other multiplats will be Xbox or PC. Resident Evil 3 and Doom Eternal are my last multiplatform games on the PS4, mainly because I pre-ordered them digitally and can't be bothered to call support for a refund. Shame since I much prefer the Dualshock 4 over the Xbox controller.

Hopefully they clarify in the next few months.

Edit: To be fair, there's not many games I'm interested in past May. Works out for me anyways.

 

[Nolbertos]

Right now I'm full in Xbox Series X due to BC. I really wanted PS4,3,2,1 BC on PS5 or at least 2 out of the 4, but based on Cerny and Sony's radio silence, seems that 100% PS4 BC or at least 50% BC isn't a reality or won't be. That was to me close to the nail in the coffin for PS5 to be my multi-platform console, now it'll be mostly Sony 1st party, while JRPG's will be on Switch.

 

[Oliver James]

I'm getting a PS5 simply because throughout the generations, the libraries that build around them are the ones I'm most interested in.

 

[Arthands]

Instead of having a knee jerk reaction, i'll wait till it launches and then decide.

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Will be hard to wait if there's some limited time promotion or sales discount around the corner.

 

[Radd Redd]

I rarely buy digital games so it doesn't really affect me on that route. Sucks for those who have though and wondering is ps5 will be selective on what is BC.

 

[TaySan]

All multiplats will be bought on PC unless the PC version is really awful or broken.

 

[Jiraiya]

Man, the BC fears... lol.
It's not that different from what Sony said with Pro mode on PS4 Pro or with PSN nick change, they just put you on the worst case scenery and at the time of truth almost everything is going to work without problems.

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What?

 

[Deleted member 1003]

I still have a feeling this is inaccurate. The PlayStation Blog summary does not reflect what Cerny said:



Sounds like he was just saying that, in their testing of PS4 games on PS5, they decided to try out the top 100 to see how they would go, and since a few had issues, there may have to be some tweaking on a title-by-title basis.

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This is how I take it. I doubt they simply look at the top 100 games (which can change!) and yup, those are it.

OP shouldn't be so definitive when we actually don't know everything.

To answer, OP, no, I think all my PS4 will play just fine on the PS5.

 

[Cipherr]

I had already decided based on the most powerful console. Primarily a PC gamer. Just need one of the two and the Nintendo console to have enough coverage of the industry. The BC doesn't factor into it for me. I can box up a console and put it in the basement man, its not that big of a deal. I have a N64 and a Sega saturn down there for christs sake.

 

[Raonak]

I got the impression that backward compatibility will be complete, just that a "boost mode" version is what's been tested against 100?

 

[xem]

I said this in another thread too. But if its the case then I will likely start building digital library on xbox. Hoping for the best.

Im afraid if its true that only 100 titles would work then its going to lead to another cascade of bad press related to SKUs. We already know that MS has said that with their Smart Delivery system you buy once and get the best version of the game. Well if we cant be guaranteed games we have already purchased to work in the back compat format, we will have no choice but to buy the PS5 version of the game (a 2nd SKU). Or has Sony said anything about this? We really need clarifications on this. Its just not a good look ATM. Too much is left up to the imagination i suppose when MS is being more clear.

Smart Delivery:
This technology empowers you to buy a game once and know that – whether you are playing it on Xbox One or Xbox Series X – you are getting the right version of that game on whatever Xbox you're playing on. We're making the commitment to use Smart Delivery on all our exclusive Xbox Game Studios titles, including
Halo Infinite
, ensuring you only have to purchase a title once in order to play the best available version for whichever Xbox console they choose to play on. This technology is available for all developers and publishers, and they can choose to use it for titles that will be release on Xbox One first and come to the Xbox Series X later.

 

[carlsojo]

Ummm no.

 

[Psrock1]

Can we please wait for Sony to actually reveal the PS5.

 

[Skux]

Too early for anyone to say given that we need further clarification from Sony.

 

[convo]

Legacy PS4 modes won't be impressive in comparison to what the xbox is doing for certain, they are much more in-depth on the code side of things. Yet to see what "boosted" PS4 games will have to offer but it hardly matters to me when it can play my discs and digital library without enhancements.

 

[Prine]

Made a conscious decision long ago that all multi platform games should be bought on Xbox, and all PS4 exclusive games should be bought on disc. I simply had no confidence in Sony being able to deliver BC at the same quality and flexibility as MS. I feel the same about Nintendo too, SD card games as I don't feel my games will be honoured on new machines.

 

[808s & Villainy]

You guys really can't wait till these next gen consoles are out to actually find out concrete details, can you?

 

[RingRang]

I've suspected for a while now there were going to be some caveats when it came to the PS5 and backwards compatibility. Sony has just not been that serious about this stuff while Microsoft has made it clear it's a pillar of their consoles going forward.

You guys really can't wait till these next gen consoles are out to actually find out concrete details, can you?

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There is no need to make this more complicated than it really is. Sony could tweet out an explanation for this stuff right now if they had some great news to deliver.

 

[Menchi]

I'll just not bother getting one at launch, like I normally do. I am tired of Sony's extremely dismissive attitude to BC, and especially legacy BC. I'm tempted to just become PC/Nintendo as even though there are some stellar 1st Party offerings, there seems to be a push towards sharing them with PC.

Why do Sony hate their legacy titles so much?

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

I would assume multiplatform players would have already been buying everything on Xbox One X? It's the strongest current platform out there.

 

[Betty]

A lot of the games I want to keep and play aren't on other platforms like Danganronpa or PSVR titles.

I just have to hope Sony keep adding all the games I own.

 

[Hanbei]

Sounds like he was just saying that, in their testing of PS4 games on PS5, they decided to try out the top 100 to see how they would go, and since a few had issues, there may have to be some tweaking on a title-by-title basis.

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This is exactly what I understand, but I don't get why people actually think this means it currently is backwards compatible with these specific 100 titles only. That Yahoo article really brought some unnecessary confusion, it seems.

 

[RestEerie]

Pending further clarifications, the two things i am extremely disappointed with sony about yesterday's fiasco are:

1) messaging. Clearly there's no PR agency or marketing director over at sony or maybe they are working from home or something thus the slow response. It's been more than 24hours and yet their messaging doesn't seems to be of clarifications but rather 'waiting'.

2) I'm probably a victim of my own hype into thinking sony will implementing full bc of all ps into the ps5 but in hindsight, i should have seen this coming. Look at how they treat the ps classic mini console (aka the worse official mini console of the last 3 years), clearly backward compatibility of any kind is of extremely low priority of any kind for sony, near the bottom of the pile i reckoned. A footnote feature checkbox rather than something to invest in. I will gladly eat a bucket of crow if future events proved me otherwise with their legacy bc solution but at this point, i think the possibility of finding martians in area 51 is higher than sony actually having a serious full legacy bc plan.


I'm not saying stupid shit like throwing my ps4 away or any other hyperbolic nonsense but i am actually planning to switch back to pc after 10 years hiatus from pc gaming and sony most probably convinced me that it's probably not worth it to build a digital library under their ecosystem.

Like, they are currently still selling ps1, psv, psp and ps3 digital titles on their psn store! But none of their current (& seemingly future) hardware can even run them! Can you imagine going to ibm webstore and finding them still selling lotus123 that requires you to hunt for a 16bit intel 8086 processor to run the thing?

That's how ridiculous the situation is.

 

[Musubi]

I still have a feeling this is inaccurate. The PlayStation Blog summary does not reflect what Cerny said:



Sounds like he was just saying that, in their testing of PS4 games on PS5, they decided to try out the top 100 to see how they would go, and since a few had issues, there may have to be some tweaking on a title-by-title basis.

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Yup. This makes sense get the most played titles working and then tune the compatibility and expand it broadly later on. I think within the first year or so of its life the PS4 will be compatible with most if not all titles. It just sounds like more testing and work needs to be done and that won't be done by launch.

 

[Zelda]

Bloodborne and God of War is all I need for backwards compatibility tbh.

 

[mikeys_legendary]

My third party titles are mostly Japanese anyway, FFXV, MHW, Persona 5, Resident Evil 7, etc.

I'm pretty confident all of them will be backwards compatible, so no. I'm sticking with Playstation.

 

[VinFTW]

Who here plays games outside of the top 100? Like come on

 

[Nagito]

Everything PlayStation has said about BC for the PS5 has been consistent except that one line in the blog posts from yesterday, so I expect that the blog is probably incorrect.

 

[TimPV3]

Definitely disappointed with Sony's excuse that the SSD is too fast and will break certain games (while XSX can simply play your Xbone games off an external hard drive), but I'm not going to switch ecosystems. Even if PS5 can only play half of the PS4's exclusives, XSX can't play any.

It would still suck if they can't get their shit together, I have a sizable PS4 collection and I know a majority aren't in the top 100. I'll still have my PS4 Pros but would love the convenience and benefits that Xbox users enjoy.

 

[Hanbei]

Bloodborne and God of War is all I need for backwards compatibility tbh.

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Backwards compatibility is the sole reason why I haven't played Marvel's Spider-Man, Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn for now. I intend to also play Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us Part II (much much later for the latter) on PS5.

 

[rokkerkory]

Paying for a once game and being able to carry it fwd and to any device is great digital outcome.

 

[Betty]

You guys really can't wait till these next gen consoles are out to actually find out concrete details, can you?

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It would be really bad if Sony waits that long, a fair few people will lose faith in their BC option and go with Xbox.