This week saw the initial reveal of the PlayStation 5 as Lead Architect Mark Cerny explained the technical specs and details for Sony’s next-gen console. Features and details of the PlayStation 5 include the ultra-high-speed SSD, integrated custom I/O system, custom GPU, and Mark’s vision for highly immersive 3D audio. One of the other features Cerny talked about was how backwards compatibility works, saying that over 100 of the best PlayStation 4 titles have been tested and will be available to play on launch. Many people ended up getting confused as it seemed that only the 100 best PS4 games are going to be playable on PlayStation 5 but Sony has released a new statement clarifying the issue. The full statement from Sony reads:
A quick update on backward compatibility – With all of the amazing games in PS4’s catalog, we’ve devoted significant efforts to enable our fans to play their favorites on PS5. We believe that the overwhelming majority of the 4,000+ PS4 titles will be playable on PS5.
We’re expecting backward compatible titles will run at a boosted frequency on PS5 so that they can benefit from higher or more stable frame rates and potentially higher resolutions. We’re currently evaluating games on a title-by-title basis to spot any issues that need adjustment from the original software developers.
In his presentation, Mark Cerny provided a snapshot into the Top 100 most-played PS4 titles, demonstrating how well our backward compatibility efforts are going. We have already tested hundreds of titles and are preparing to test thousands more as we move toward launch. We will provide updates on backward compatibility, along with much more PS5 news, in the months ahead. Stay tuned!
One of the biggest changes from the PlayStation 4 to the PlayStation 5 is going from an HDD to an SSD. The SSD allows for lots of new features including fast boot-up times and loading times that’ll last for a few seconds. PlayStation 5’s custom GPU will bring in new features such as ray tracing and other technical details that haven’t been possible up to this point.
The other thing that Sony has changed is how backwards compatibility works for the PlayStation 5. With the PlayStation 3, a chipset for the PlayStation 2 was install which is how PS2 games were able to play on PlayStation 3. Now, it’s more similar to how Xbox does it. Whenever you play a PlayStation 4 game, the PlayStation 5 will go into a specific mode, depending on where you played the PlayStation 4 game. To break it down, there is a PlayStation 5 native mode, a PlayStation 4 Pro legacy mode, and a PlayStation 4 legacy mode. There have been rumors and patents filed that suggest that all PlayStation generations will be playable on the PlayStation 5 but all that’s been confirmed so far is what’s been said. It’s possible that an announcement like that comes when Sony is ready to talk about the games you’ll get to play.