PS5
With a lot more information released about both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 the past few weeks, there’s one area of confusion that seems to persist across both consoles: backward computability. Both Microsoft and Sony have said some cursory things about it, and then been forced to correct or add to what they said to clarify things. And everything is still not exactly crystal clear.
But here’s where we are:
Xbox Series X
Microsoft revealed that you can connect an existing USB hard drive to the Series X and instantly transfer your entire games library to the new console. This raised some questions about the state of currently backward compatible games, as it wasn’t clear if the Series X would play fewer older games than now, the same, or even more.
Microsoft clarified this with the following statement:
“Correction: To date, we’ve spent over 100K hours testing your favorite games from Xbox One, including existing backward compatible 360 & OG Xbox games, on Xbox Series X. While we are still in the process of validating, we can confirm thousands of games will be playable at launch.”
This is the latest info we have, and it’s definitely not a full list of titles. Or any list, really. The priority seems to be Xbox One games, though Microsoft is not guaranteeing the full catalog, and there does not seem to be an expansion of 360 and OG Xbox games past what already exists. “Thousands of games” is nebulous, but somehow less so than what Sony has said.
Xbox Series X
PlayStation 5
This issue was brought up in Mark Cerny’s technical and somewhat confusing hardware presentation, as he talked about certain games running in different ways based on PS5 specs, PS4 Pro specs or PS4 base specs, with no mention of PS1-3 games. He talked about the “top 100 most played games” as being backward compatible, which led to questions about…the rest of all the games.
Again, Sony was forced to clarify this situation to some extent:
“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!”
So, while there will definitely be more than 100 PS4 games that are backward compatible at launch, which is what freaked people out initially, there are still questions about which games will or won’t be “boosted” with the new capabilities of the PS5, and that isn’t really cleared up by this statement.
There also does not appear to be any mention of PS1-3 games at all, meaning they don’t seem to be a priority for Sony, past what maybe you can play on PS Now. So Xbox may have the edge here. But again, this remains a little confusing.
This is the latest information we have on both consoles, which is not complete because a lot of these games are still being tested over the course of the next few months until launch to make sure they can work on the new systems. We will likely not have a full launch list of old, backward compatible games until much closer to release, and I would not expect every single currently backward compatible title to make the cut.
Microsoft, however, does have the system in place where if you buy a last-gen version of a game that ends up getting a new-gen version, you get that upgrade for free. Sony has not yet announced a similar program, so it’s not clear how say, The Last of Us Part 2 will work if it ends up being a cross-gen title.
It’s too early to have this fully cleared up, but that’s the most recent info on backward compatibility that we have.
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