Why do most Playstation fans seem to care so little about Sony's legacy content?

[King Kingo]

I guess one could argue that Sony isn't investing in making their legacy content available on PS5 probably because their market data showed that their consumers don't care enough.

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That's partially because backwards compatiability for PS2 and the first iteration of the PS3 made game preservation pointless when the original media could still be played.

That changed when the PS3 resorted to remasters for their legacy PS2 content which were not playable for the PS4. Again, this is on Sony for making their back catalogue so hard to access.

 

[BasilZero]

I want legacy content - Sony just don't care unfortunately

 

[MrFox]

"Why do most Playstation fans..." I'm curious if it's even possible that anything good comes out after that line. It begs for tribalism, reductionism, and fanboyism.

Nintendo: I still play a mix of gamecube and wii games on my Wii, because most of my favorite games had no remasters, and no remakes. Sure, nintendo keeps remaking (and improving) the same games every generation, so I buy those, but my favorite games of all time are either ignored or from bankrupt companies. Keeping my Wii connected is not a big deal, it's the right tool for the job.

Playstation: I still have a PS3-Fat (with an SSD), and a PS5 so I can play the whole 5 generation of playstation games perfectly with 2 boxes. It's nostalgia heaven, it plays everything, no download, no patches, no hoping the company will try to recompile it so if kind of works, they even backported the DS4 driver on PS3. However PS1 games are unplayable on a 4K 135" screen (I would puke with anything 3D, and I prefer my Amiga emulator for 2D games nostalgia) All the PS2 games I had were remastered on PS3. So the only BC I really wish for is PS3 BC but that's technically impossible, and I'd rather they continue putting their efforts on new games. They need to do more remasters and remakes, and they need to port the remasters they had on PS3 (at the very least the ratchets, slys, jak&daxters). Right now there's too many games to play for me to go back and try any old game I never played, while I obviously already have the old games I want to play.

Microsoft: I have a gaming PC that I keep upgrading since 1993, playing the occasional Steam game, and running the Amiga emulator. but I now only play from the couch, and I don't play on PC much anymore. I no longer use it enough to justify a GPU upgrade.

So even for a real nostalgic nerd and game preservation nut like me... none of these companies would make any money from me unless they remaster/remake the old games. It's up to them to decide if they want my money.

 

[Scott Pilgrim]

I've been a fan of PS since PS1 and on, I rather play a 'focused' generation games than old games for sure, at the end playing old games is always best on the Original hardware.

 

[Adder7806]

Don't care about old games. Don't care about BC. I've already played those games. I want new experiences.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

This ultimately is the problem with BC, you either need to purchase old games again or you're targeting an audience that you're assuming has kept discs from 15+ years ago and they still actually work. Arguments can be made that it's disappointing that missing PS3 BC is disappointing but beyond that, digital didn't exist

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Yes and no-- Digital does exist for PS1 and to some extent PS2 because of Sony's own BC efforts on PS3, PSP, and Vita. I already own digital versions of Ridge Racer Type-4, Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve, Persona 3 FES, and so many others.

That's what's so frustrating, Sony was making great moves at that time and so many awesome BC games were available on PS3, PSP, and Vita. All they had to do was NOT throw away the work they had already done by removing that functionality from PS4 and PS5. But they couldn't even manage that.

 

[J-Wood]

Honestly, once I have a new gen console I just don't care to go back and play old games I've already played/beaten. Aside from very specific nostalgia type of games, I'm not clamoring to go back and replay ps2 games.

I even consider myself a huge gamer, and it's my biggest hobby. It's just very difficult to go back to very dated games, and I suspect most people (especially those that don't participate in video game forums) feel the same way.

 

[Roshin]

Why would anyone play that?

Seriously though, PS fans have been complaining. But at a certain point you just give up because Sony doesn't care.

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This.

Sony could do a lot here and sure, there's the odd nostalgic video celebrating previous generations of PlayStation, but not much more.

 

[Sangetsu-II]

For me is that since I know I continually will get new games from PlayStation there is no need for me to ever keep going back to a finished game. On the contrary since they publish so many games I have to force myself to finish them quickly to keep up with their backlog lol.

 

[NavyPharaoh]

I started my son on vintage gaming but once he saw what I was playing he had no interest in the old school and I don't blame him. Video games are iterative. Not only do games look better now, but they play better. Yeah there are some games that hold up, but a vast majority of those only mean something to those that played them at the time. I'm a lifelong gamer, I've loved many games in my life, but I don't pine for the old days. It's fine for those that do.

I love the remake revolution though . Give me more modernize takes on older games.

 

[Giga Man]

I would love nothing more than to have BC with PSOne and PS2 games with full 4-player support because I never had a Multi-Tap.

 

[martinstraka8282]

I care. I care a lot actually. PS1, PS2 and PS3 desperately needs more attention.

The problem is that I have become to used to modern day visual fidelity and everytime I go to play old games, they just don't do it for me. Not even on the right setup with a CRT.

I wish we got a lot more remasters of old games. No need to re-invent the wheel.

At the top of my list...

Metal Gear Solid 1-3
Twisted Metal 1,2 & Black
SSX Tricky

 

[King Kingo]

"Why do most Playstation fans..." I'm curious if it's even possible that anything good comes out after that line. It begs for tribalism, reductionism, and fanboyism.

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That's exactly what this post is, OP is just getting away with it with a lot of meaningless fluff.

 

[nonoriri]

I guess I don't care because I was an irresponsible kid and I haven't saved any of my PS1 or PS2 discs and most of the games I've wanted to play have been released digitally.

That said, most of my friends have a PS4. For about a third of them, it's their first console ever, for nearly all of them it's their first PlayStation console. I feel like there's a huge portion of the PlayStation market that doesn't care about legacy content because they weren't part of it and have no attachment to it.

 

[Eeyore]

I'm not sure how the OP judges these things. Both Nintendo, in how they've priced their legacy ports and Sony with their plethora of remasters and remakes have received criticism. I'm not sure what else you're expecting.

 

[Grimmy11]

I would love to be able to play old gen games on PS5. I got a Series X at launch and I'll likely get a PS5 next year but I guarantee you it would have been the other way around if Sony had announced PS5 was fully BC.

The problem is people (like me) who want the BC are very much in the minority, most people just don't care and there's not much money to be made at all in making BC available. If anything it'd just reduce sales of newer games slightly. It'd probably be more valuable as good publicity, a positive news story about Sony more than anything else. And Sony don't need that at all.
I'm positive Microsoft wouldn't have invested in BC at all had the tables been turned and they were running away with last gen, but they needed the good press, which is why we got Xbox BC.

 

[Astronut325]

I still have almost all of my old systems. I just have no interest in going back to old games. I would rather have resources go to new games. I'm honestly wondering if there is any data on BC usage.

 

[Deleted member 30544]

Personally I do care, but I don't complain (that much)because I keep a tight administration of my legacy games and systems.

Sony doesn't give a fuck about it , so you have to give up and take actions yourself.

I'm also not OK with the generalization in this thread, I remember on PS3 days when everyone was mad that they ditched the PS2 emulation on later models for example, or the current issue with Vita.

 

[Oscarzx n]

(Failed comment)

 

[Oscarzx n]

Blaming the fans instead of the corporation is a bad take and you should feel bad for even making such a statement.

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I didn't insult them for it or anything even close to that, so I don't see why I should feel bad about what I said

 

[random88]

Personally, I keep my old consoles, so I couldn't care less about that stuff.

 

[Mafro]

Why do Sony care so little about Sony's legacy content?

 

[Era of not Yakuza]

See, the problem you are noticing is probably more related to the way people start any conversation about PS classics.
Sometimes people say things like:
"company z let's you play games from 4 gens, why would you buy a PlayStation instead?"

And fans will answer something like "because I want new games" but it doesn't mean they would not appreciate being able to play older games they bought.

Sometimes it's just The fox and the grapes, where they want but since it isn't available they will say they don't care

Personally I don't get why Sony does not allow this, I want to give my money to them but it seems they don't care.

After 4 years being exclusiviely a PC gamer there are some things that I don't accept anymore, one of them is not being able to play any game I ever bought.

 

[McScroggz]

I think it's the combination of Sony consistently producing or publishing great games, plus the general plethora of good games big and small that is released throughout the year - especially ones that cater to classic game design. When you have these options, the desire for PS1/PS2 is diminished. However, I do wish Sony would do better with those games.

 

[Elephant]

I'm sure everyone would be ecstatic to have access to the full Playstation library. It's bloody perfect for something like PlayStation Now, or whatever they call it when they take on GamePass seriously.

I suppose it's one of those things that we don't expect to get, so we don't really moan about not having it. Whereas Nintendo tend to just tease people with their classics, one minute they're there, the next they're not.

 

[Ovvv]

Of course Nintendo fans would be extremely vocal about this when the biggest and best games on the system are new entries in series from 30+ years ago. It's natural for people to want to play Pokemon Crystal on their Switch after playing Pokemon Sword.

Sony typically doesn't really do that outside of a few cases and all the IPs they currently revisit are remastered, remade, or already available to play on their latest system for the most part.

 

[TheCarrotKiller]

Why would I want to play old games?

For real though, that is more or less my personal standpoint. All of my darling series are still running so give me new games. For backwards compatibility, sure give me a chance to play Mr. Mosquito or Super Rub'a'Dub and I would take it, but I'm not sure I want to play PS1/2 games again, controls has gotten so much better over the years.

 

[Dysun]

I barely have enough time to play new games, so I can't really justify playing or revisiting old ones other than in very rare cases.

 

[Belfast]

I often find in general that when I go back and play old games, I don't actually play them *much*. Once my nostalgia is satisfied, I often realize how limited and primitive most old games are. There are a few exceptions, of course, and I'm all for remakes, but no, legacy content for the most part is not particularly important to me. I have loads of old games sitting on shelves, but with everything new out there, I don't have the time or particular desire to play them again.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

How many people are buying games from 2 or 3 gens ago that aren't remasters or remakes? If they're on a platform like Gamepass and spinning it up, sure, but I doubt a significant portion of the market is going back and purchasing dated games.

This ultimately is the problem with BC, you either need to purchase old games again or you're targeting an audience that you're assuming has kept discs from 15+ years ago and they still actually work. Arguments can be made that it's disappointing that missing PS3 BC is disappointing but beyond that, digital didn't exist so unless you're throwing it into a subscription like gamepass, it's a very limited market segment and likely fractions of a percent that people have more than 3 or 4 games.

I know I don't usually have enough time to work through even new games, it took me almost a month to finish TLoU2. Why would people who have less time focus on playing older games over new ones? Even the best PS2 games weren't pick it up and play short experiences, like say a platformer from Nintendo in the early 90's.

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I'm just talking about making older generations' available on the PSN store for digital purchase. Not disc-BC. And certainly not streaming.
And your question is self-fulfilling because right now you can't buy games from 2 or 3 gens ago that aren't remasters or remakes.

And again - 'purchasing old games again' sounds so negative. And the 'again' is a big assumption. Those that buy 'again' will likely do so for nostalgia, and those that buy for the first time will do so out of curiosity. Neither are negatives.

Lastly, the assumption that Nintendo hardware is the only one hosting pick up and play experiences is just wrong. And you can definitely 'zap' a game that isn't pick up and play.

 

[NattyBo]

Sony isnt as reliant on nostalgia as Nintendo is, for one.

I associate Playstation with cutting edge games. It's nice to be able to revisit them on Vita and stuff, but at the end of the day, I've always been a Playstation guy because you could play games that weren't like others or were exclusive to the PS. I played them new, and I rarely have time to revisit games, since my backlog is so huge.

 

[Deluxera]

The question is not why are Playstation fans not interested in legacy content but why are gamers in general not interested in legacy content.

 

[King Kingo]

I didn't insult them for it or anything even close to that, so I don't see why I should feel bad about what I said

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Don't play coy, you're pitting Sony fans against Nintendo fans by saying that Sony fans don't care for legacy content like Nintendo fans do.

At least, that's what I'm interpreting here. I would have been more forgiving if you were more critical about Sony Interactive Entertainment themselves regarding their legacy content.

 

[HammerOfThor]

Because anything from the PS3 onward is still fresh in my mind, and PS1 and PS2 can be super dated and not enjoyable to play. Why would I play GT 1-4 when I can play the newest one? Sure there are some gems, but I barely have time to play my new PS5 games. I downloaded like 5 PS4 games from that PS Plus Legacy thing for new PS5 owners I won't get to until next year, if ever.

This goes for Xbox and Nintendo too.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Because anything from the PS3 onward is still fresh in my mind, and PS1 and PS2 can be super dated and not enjoyable to play. Why would I play GT 1-4 when I can play the newest one?

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Jim Ryan, is it you?

Personally I don't care about old games, they look and play terrible for the most part (and my first console was a Master System)

I'll eagerly play remakes like FFVII-R, Demon's Souls or Resident Evil 2 though. All my friends are on the same camp fwiw

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Some irony here as Demon's Souls remake plays the same as the original.

 

[MrMiyamoto]

I came onto the PS scene in the PS3 days and now own every console in the PlayStation family from PS1 to PSP and Vita to PS5, so I don't have a lot of the nostalgia that other people would even though I played on a friend's PS1 in its heyday from time to time. I think Sony is pretty good at doing big remakes of the very best games from their past so there's little need or fanfare for games from the older systems unlike the legendary status a lot of Nintendo's back catalogue achieved.

 

[prophetvx]

I'm just talking about making older generations' available on the PSN store for digital purchase. Not disc-BC. And certainly not streaming.
And your question is self-fulfilling because right now you can't buy games from 2 or 3 gens ago that aren't remasters or remakes.

And again - 'purchasing old games again' sounds so negative. And the 'again' is a big assumption. Those that buy 'again' will likely do so for nostalgia, and those that buy for the first time will do so out of curiosity. Neither are negatives.

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Look I don't disagree with that but there are some limited PS1 and PS2 games available for purchase on PS4 that aren't remakes. Xbox also has a limited selection available on the store.

The problem is they need to be ported to support that. I didn't say there are negatives, it's just a ridiculously tiny market. Most 3D games are nowhere near as timeless as we'd like to think and if there was a large profitable market to sell these games again, then I'm sure they would but it involves negotiating with publishers that may or may no longer exist, paying royalties to non-existent companies etc. I grew up starting with an Atari 2600 and have little desire to spin up a PS1 game but rushed out to buy an NES and SNES Mini, if there was a massive market, the games would be available.

People like to compare Microsoft and Sony on this front but the OG Xbox was the PS2 gen, their support for OG Xbox is also extremely limited in terms of digital availability. It comes back to the complaint about missing PS3 BC first and foremost and the technical reasons may or may not be justified now that we're finally seeing some decent emulation but a large amount of those games are also available on PS Now if that is important to you.

Lastly, the assumption that Nintendo hardware is the only one hosting pick up and play experiences is just wrong. And you can definitely 'zap' a game that isn't pick up and play.

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A much, much larger percentage of Nintendo games fall into this category than PS2 games.

 

[Thrill_house]

Oh we care. It just feels as if Sony doesn't. What can you do?

 

[Deleted member 15395]

Is it really just a Sony thing? I mean, are there even numbers of how many X360 games were played on XBO hardware?. As much as I would love to have it, I think back-compat is not as widely used as we think.

 

[Deleted member 7051]

I would love to be able to play old gen games on PS5. I got a Series X at launch and I'll likely get a PS5 next year but I guarantee you it would have been the other way around if Sony had announced PS5 was fully BC.

The problem is people (like me) who want the BC are very much in the minority, most people just don't care and there's not much money to be made at all in making BC available. If anything it'd just reduce sales of newer games slightly. It'd probably be more valuable as good publicity, a positive news story about Sony more than anything else. And Sony don't need that at all.
I'm positive Microsoft wouldn't have invested in BC at all had the tables been turned and they were running away with last gen, but they needed the good press, which is why we got Xbox BC.

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Yeah, I aimed for a Series X over a PS5 this launch too for a similar reason. I'm going to get a PS5 eventually but not being able to play any of my PS2 or PS3 games on it is a serious concern and between that and their evident desire to sell shiny versions of PS3 games instead has me worried. With most of the major PS5 games coming out on the PS4 anyway for the near future, I'm even less inclined to go get a PS5 and the backwards compatibility of the Series X makes that an even easier decision because that's something I do value.

I mean, just a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to play Left 4 Dead 2 and all I had to do was grab the disc from my bookshelf, pop it into the Series X and it played. There was no fuss and no pulling out old consoles before trying to plug them in and the best part is the game itself looked and performed far, far better than it ever did on the X360.

Heck, I saw Metal Gear Rising on the Black Friday sale and remembered how much I enjoyed that game so I bought it. I can't do that on a PS5. It's annoying because I have so many PS2 and PS3 games I'd love to play at one point or another and I either have to make do with inferior ports (like the Silent Hill HD Collection the PS5 can't play anyway) or shell out £70 for a remake they'll probably sell within a few years.

 

[Perfectsil]

We do but what can we do about it? Complain on forums?l lol

 

[Bosh]

I think probably many of you have seen than in recent years Nintendo has recieved a lot of criticism for the handling of their first party legacy content on the Switch, because in previous console thay have the virtual console line that allowed players to buy games from old consoles, while now on the Switch they only have a service for NES and SNES games, not considering any of the other consoles so far. Virtual Console wasn´t perfect, but because of that the idea was to made it better, not worse, and for that reason as I said there have been multiple articles or Youtube videos with thousands of views about this and overall people have just not stopped complaining about this

However, if you look at Sony, I think they have been just as bad as Nintendo in that sense in recent years, since they had on PS3,PSP and Vita the PS1 classics line of games, that was basically a Virtual Console but for PS1 games, and on PS3 thay also had a line of PS2 classics, as well as many remastered collection of games of this console; it wasn't perfect since plenty of games owned by Sony from these consoles were not present, like Lomax, and the distribution between regions was kind of a mess, but still, it was a solid form of getting these classics games legally. However now on PS4 the PS1 classic line of games didn't return, at all, so to play games on this console on PS4 you have to rely on collections or individual releases, something that Sony has barely done at all, and then you have the PS2 classics that while did return on PS4, they are overall far inferior, with far less games available, so overall for PS4 Sony has done a very bad job with their legacy content next to what they did before, just like Nintendo on the Switch, and don't get me started witht he emarassment that was the PS1 Mini

The thing is, while Nintendo fans have been super critical about Nintendo's handling of their legacy content, most PS Fans have not cared at all about this, the complains about the lack of PS1 classics or better PS2 clascis, or even getting PSP games on PS4 has been almost non existent, most PS fans don't care. Why is this? I know Sony doesn't have the legacy that Nintendo has but they have done dozens of fantastic games, dozens of fantastic games you have to own original hardware or still have your PS3, PSP or Vita if you want to play them now, not to mention Sony also has some very interesting games that were released only in Japan and again no one seem to care unlike Nintendo fans that still are complaining about thigs like Mother 3 or the classic FE games, and all of that is without mentioning they have never done anything with the games they own that were made before Playstation, like Sony Imagesoft or Psygnosis titles

I honestly think Playstation fans should care more about Sony's classic content, I think this is giving a lot of people the image that Sony doesn't have good classic games and most of the good stuff for PS1 or 2 were entirely third party, with is BS honestly

Edit: and to be more clear, it's not that no Playstation fan cares about Sony's legacy content, is more that is seems the vast majority doesn't care and that's why the complains for the lack of PS1 classics on PS4 have been only distant voices that are not worth listening for Sony

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I still own all of PlayStation's past consoles and the home ones all use the same AC cord so it's really easy to switch out on fly. For handhelds everything is on Vita (a few games are missing but majority is there). It's also great to use the original controllers the games are designed around. I also love all the mini consoles are powered by same cord.

At the end of the day if that's my biggest hassle then it's not worth getting upset about as it's a sub minute job.

 

[leburn98]

The main issue is that PlayStation's legacy is built largely upon 3rd party titles. When people think early PlayStation, they think Crash, Spyro, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, etc. Very few are asking to replay Syphon Filter or Gran Turismo. Another issue, is that much of Sony's early output, with few exceptions, do not hold up in the way that a Super Mario 64, Ocarina of TIme or heck, even a Halo does.

It really isn't until the PS2 with titles such as Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, and God of War, where I can legitimately say "yah I want to replay that."

 

[Goodacre0081]

Sony doesn't care. Its clear that exclusive timed content and celebrity endorsements are more important than providing legacy support

 

[Bios]

Maybe because there are new games to explore?

 

[We_care_a_lot]

was literally just thinking about buying a vita to have access to my ps1 classics.

No idea why these aren't on playstation now or at least some of them

 

[DreamRunner]

I'm not sure where you're getting that from, OP.

 

[Firima]

Polls on here used to frequently suggest that even this community didn't really care about BC until Microsoft absolutely clowned on Sony in that arena and Sony began to promise PS4 BC, so a lot of the turnaround in opinion is probably stealth console warring, but the earlier responses are likely the most honest ones--People here don't really care, as they're more than eager to support companies that either didn't care or were hostile to older games, and you'd better believe these companies take notice of that.

And if we don't care, how do you think the general gaming population feels?

 

[shadowsdarknes]

The Value of PS Now goes up significantly if they can actually offer downloadable PS3 games instead of streaming.
Adding PS1 and PS2 games also adds significant value to the service, too.

I'm not sure why Sony wouldn't want to get more subscribers to the service.

Jim Ryan seemed to suggest Sony is working on their answer to Gamepass. I think a significant competitive advantage Sony's service could have would be a large offering of exclusive legacy content.

 

[Adathir]

I would love to have a way of playing all my ps1/ps2/psp games on a modern Playstation. No modern console lets me play my collection of retro games though so I just plug in an old system if I feel the need.