Thought about it some more and wanted to restate my agruement for a PS3/PS4 CROSS BUY program in a new thread.

After thinking about it a bit more my idea is the equivalent of offering a sort of  FORWARDS COMPATIBILITY for ps3 owners. Like what PC owners already get!Think about pc gaming. If I want to upgrade my rig do I have to go out and buy my games again? NO! Wouldn't PS3 players want to buy a game that they know they'll be able to play an upgraded version of once they get PS4!

Granted, a program like this would not help day one ps4 buyers or people who have both systems!!! What's the point of a ps3 version of a game I can play on my ps4 after all. But that's not the point. It's not for PS4 owners. But a ps3/ps4 cross buy would be great for the millions of PS3 owners! Millions of people who might be sitting on the fence about getting a ps4, and/or also those sitting on the fence about whether they should still get games on their ps3.

If you think about it; the value proposition of a combined ps3/ps4 sku would likely be much higher than a ps3 only sku (little difference verses a ps4 sku). It would entice ps3 only owners to continue to buy games on ps3 because each purchase would be an investment in the future. Instead of feeling like they should just save their money until they get their ps4 or for the ps4 versions of the same games.

Plus the small catalog of ps4 games they now own offer a strong incentive to upgrade to ps4. Every cross buy PS4 game in your library is a nagging little reminder that ps4 is you next system of choice. You already have an investment toward that future purchase.

From a publisher side I do not see them loosing money at all (especially if they are already creating the game on both platforms as is likely the case for lots of games during the transition years). I definately don't think a combined ps3/ps4 sku is going to sell significantly less numbers than a separate ps3 and ps4 sku. The install base will have significant overlap for the first year or two so this wouldn't be an issue. Plus the added value for ps3 owners might translate to higher sales from that group.

Sony could market it as 'FORWARD COMPATIBILITY' as a way to draw attention away from lack of backwards compatibility. I can even imagine the slogan "THINK FORWARD"

I'm really interested in discussing this idea more from a business perspective.

Why would Sony do this when they can just resell the updated remake for quick cash? There were plenty of HD remakes on PS3 which a decent amount of people bought.

If you think about it all of those are of older games that were only ever offered on ps2. Then later they were upgraded to ps3. And I agree for those games that is a great business. I'm sure sony will offer those at some point. Like say a ps4 upgraded version of god of war 3 or something like that.

But what I'm taking about is games that are made for both systems simultaneously during the transition years (like watch dogs, assasins creed 4, etc)

It's just not going to happen and it's not a good business movie anyway. No publisher is going to give a game away for free just so PS3 owners can feel better about the PS4's lack of backwards compatibility.

Sony needs everyone to switch to the PS4. So what they really should do is shut down the PS3, move all unreleased games over to PS4 exclusives and force everyone to either upgrade to PS4 or starve for games on PS3. Not a nice move, but the smart move.

Nobody is going to buy a PS3 game while the PS4 is out planing to play it on PS4 so packing in an extra game will do nothing but lose money. The same goes for PS4 owners, they don't want a PS3 game packed in with their PS4 game. Both will just end up pulling the second disc out and sell it. That will lose publishers money.

I totally disagree with just about everything you said there!

Publishers will do all kinds of things to entice players to buy their game. Offering up rights to play a game across multiple systems is a totally a valid way of doing this and would not cost them sales. In fact the added value would likely help them make sales. And they would obviously put both games on the same blue ray disc (to avoid having it sold) or offer one version as a dlc code or something.

As for them dropping ps3, that's crazy talk! Sony is not Nintendo. They don't instantly abandon their install base each round. They make their money on the back end of the cycle and these are the ps3's golden years, when they will make a ton of money!

If "forwards compatibility" was made to encourage people to buy a PS4....wouldn't that defeat the purpose?

I mean it would be nice for those who aren't buying a PS4 right away, but again I don't see what the advantage would be. I think Cross-Platform and Cross-Save would be better so PS3 and PS4 people can play together. But Cross-Buy doesn't have much of a financial downside so it would be welcomed.

Forwards compatibility also doesn't make sense, because as you describe it, it neglects the entire back library.

I had PS2 versions of some of those and I must tell you that they're hard to look at on a 50inch tv in 4:3.  PS3 remakes are well worth the money considering they give you 2 or 3 games for $40.  That's only a few bucks more per game than the PS2 versions would be and they look miles better.