Sorry folks, but Sony has shut down any rumours that your old PS1, PS2, or PS3 games will be playable on the PS5. Hang onto those old machines!
In an interview with Japanese publisher Famitsu, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has confirmed that the upcoming PlayStation 5 will not be backwards compatible with PS1, PS2, or PS3 games. As confirmed already, the PS5 will be compatible with PS4 games.
“We have been building devices with PS5 specific engineering in mind”, Ryans shared, when asked about games released before the PS4 generation. “Among them, PS4 already has 100 million players, so I thought that I would like to play PS4 titles on PS5 as well, so I introduced PS4 compatibility.”
“While achieving this, we focused on incorporating high-speed SSDs and the new controller “DualSense” in parallel. So, unfortunately, compatibility with them has not been achieved.”
Many players were holding out hope that their old copies of Red Dead Redemption 1, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, or even 1998’s Metal Gear Solid would be playable on Sony’s next-gen console, but it seems that wish was a little farfetched. It still stings, considering the great range of PS2 games or PS1 games on offer.
That said, Sony seems to be fully embracing the PS4 generation’s compatibility for their new console. Elsewhere in the interview Ryan stated that “99%” backwards compatibility across PS4 titles had been successfully play tested on the PlayStation 5, and an earlier announcement noted that you’ll also be able to keep your PS4 DualSense controllers to play PS4 games on the PS5.
Over the weekend Sony also announced the PlayStation Plus Collection, a series of 18 PS4 titles which will be downloadable to your PS5 at launch on November 12th, free for PS Plus subscribers.
The PS5 will hit shelves in Australia on November 12th for $749.95, or $599.95 for the Digital Edition.
