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Forums - Sony - On the Subject of PS5 Backwards Compatibility

Shiken on 01 November 2020
smroadkill15 said:
Bandorr said:

"seems like a desperate attempt" yeah I was just thinking those same words...

So if someone buys a PS2 game online. Never owning the disk. And years later they are able to still play that on the PS4. .. That isn't backwards compatible?

Yes "seems like a desperate attempt" is a very accurate description indeed..

If a Ps2 game is ported to the ps4, say GTA:San Andreas, is it not a ps4 game now? You still need to rebuy it even if you owned the game before. 

Yeah thats my point, it is a port of a PS2 game released digitally (emulation or not).  I need some clarification on something...

A PS2 digital game on PS3 to my knowledge does not carry over your purchase to the PS4.  That means you have to rebuy it to play it on the PS4 and therefore IS NOT BC.  If you buy it on PS4 and can play it on PS5, that is PS4 BC.  That is what I have been saying.

Now the way he made it out was as if the PS3 purchase of a PS2 game would be playable on PS5 and PS4, which would be limited to digital BC but not full BC.

But if those purchases do not carry over and you need to rebuy it again, yeah that is not BC.  I find it funny how all of a sudden digital ports qualify for BC if that is the case.  I have not made any digital purchases of PS2 games to test this out though, so can someone please verify which is the case?



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DroidKnight on 01 November 2020
SvennoJ said:

So if I give you the game for free, it is backwards compatible?

In fact you cannot play BC games without an internet connection on XBox One. The disc is useless on its own.

I bought the game.  I don't have to buy the game again.  I stick in my PS4 game disc into the PS5 and it plays.  If you give me a PS4 game for free and I stick it into the PS5 it still will work.  You paid for it.  My Xbox or Xbox 360 or Xbox One games that I have paid for or got free from a friend that he paid for will work when I put them in without having to pay again.  That's backwards compatible. As long as I'm not paying again to play these same games it's backwards compatible.  



...to avoid getting banned for inactivity, I may have to resort to comments that are of a lower overall quality and or beneath my moral standards.

SvennoJ on 01 November 2020
DroidKnight said:
SvennoJ said:

So if I give you the game for free, it is backwards compatible?

In fact you cannot play BC games without an internet connection on XBox One. The disc is useless on its own.

I bought the game.  I don't have to buy the game again.  I stick in my PS4 game disc into the PS5 and it plays.  If you give me a PS4 game for free and I stick it into the PS5 it still will work.  You paid for it.  My Xbox or Xbox 360 or Xbox One games that I have paid for or got free from a friend that he paid for will work when I put them in without having to pay again.  That's backwards compatible. As long as I'm not paying again to play these same games it's backwards compatible.  

That's not the definition of backwards compatible.

According to the definition online XBox does not have BC
(of computer hardware or software) able to be used with an older piece of hardware or software without special adaptation or modification.
But if you want to call what XBox does BC, then ps2 games with adaptation/modification free or not are BC on ps4 / ps5 as well.

You can play old PC games you have bought before on new systems by doing some work yourself (Configuring DOS box for example) or you can buy the package for a small fee from GOG (rebuying the game) who do that compatibility work for you.
Sony charges more to fit the old ps2 games into the emulator, but in essence it's the same and still the same base software.

Of course then the line blurs with remasters, more and more modification until you get into remakes which makes it a 'new' game.




DroidKnight on 01 November 2020
SvennoJ said:

That's not the definition of backwards compatible.

According to the definition online XBox does not have BC
(of computer hardware or software) able to be used with an older piece of hardware or software without special adaptation or modification.
But if you want to call what XBox does BC, then ps2 games with adaptation/modification free or not are BC on ps4 / ps5 as well.

You can play old PC games you have bought before on new systems by doing some work yourself (Configuring DOS box for example) or you can buy the package for a small fee from GOG (rebuying the game) who do that compatibility work for you.
Sony charges more to fit the old ps2 games into the emulator, but in essence it's the same and still the same base software.

Of course then the line blurs with remasters, more and more modification until you get into remakes which makes it a 'new' game.

Requesting a thread lock since there is no such thing as Backwards Compatibility for PS5 and the OP shouldn't be spreading misinformation about games being backwards compatible or not since it's a myth.



...to avoid getting banned for inactivity, I may have to resort to comments that are of a lower overall quality and or beneath my moral standards.

smroadkill15 on 01 November 2020

Some are way to focused on the word, "backwards compatibility" instead of the outcome. Does it really matter if it's called BC? Gamers get to play older gen games they own already bought. That is what's important. Calling it BC is just easier even if it's technically not.



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Wman1996 on 01 November 2020

The compatibility percentage is still within the high 90s it seems. Including digital-only games (which are a significant majority), there have been over 4000 PS4 releases.

There are at least a few on here that I have that won't roll over to the PS5. I'm not getting a PS5 soon anyway, and I was planning on holding onto my PS4 Pro in the long run.



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d21lewis on 01 November 2020

This whole "Backwards compatibility" discussion that's going on:
If you own an earlier Xbox console, can you play the games you already own?
If you own an earlier PlayStation console, can you play the games you already own?
If you've never owned an Xbox, does it matter?
If you've never owned a PlayStation, what difference does it make?
Do any of the games that aren't compatible interest you?

That's all you need to consider. Aside from that, backwards compatibility is just access to some cheaper, older games.