Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
In the ongoing lead-up to PlayStation 5’s launch, the question of backwards compatibility has been a looming and cagey question for Sony. PS4 compatibility has been confirmed a few times already, but the matter of earlier PlayStation systems has been far more cloudy. That said, Ubisoft may have inadvertently shined a light on the matter, and it doesn’t look good if you were hoping for PS1, PS2, or PS3 backwards compatibility.
Ubisoft recently posted a new page dedicated to backwards compatibility for PS5 and PS4 on the support pages of the Ubisoft website. While PS4 will be mostly supported, PS1, PS2, and PS3 games will not, at least as far as Ubisoft is concerned.
“Backwards compatibility will be available for supported PlayStation 4 titles, but will not be possible for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, or PlayStation games,” reads the page.
This may very well speak to the case of earlier generation PlayStation games in general for the PS5. Given that Sony already stated that not even all PS4 games would be entirely backwards compatible on the new system at launch, the possibility of earlier generation backwards compatibility has looked increasingly grim.
PlayStation has always been pretty spotty about backwards compatibility. On the PS4, the PlayStation Now livestreaming game service has long been the only way to play PS3 and PS2 games on the system. This is in vast contrast to the Xbox where backwards compatibility has been an increasingly enhanced feature as time has gone on. It seems like that’s going to continue to be the case on the Xbox Series.
The PlayStation 5 is still looking enticing for a number of reasons. That said, with curious decisions like controller design on the DualSense and a raffle to allow pre-orders, the dim outlook on backwards compatibility is just another thing to slightly dull the sheen.