Ever since the advent of new generations of consoles following the first, backwards compatibility has been a hot topic for gamers and game developers. After all, many gamers want to be able to play their old favorites, even if they get a new console. Unfortunately, those who purchase the Sony PlayStation 5 will be severely limited in PS5 backwards compatibility capabilities. According to Ubisoft, the PlayStation 5 will not have backwards compatibility support for anything earlier than the PS4: that includes the PS1, 2 and 3, of course.
That said, this little detail about the PS5 isn’t coming directly from Sony, so it could turn out to be untrue. However, Ubisoft said explicitly that those systems’ game will not be supported, and there’s no reason for them to lie about that information.
PS5 Pre-Order Information
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This information came from a Ubisoft support page that was explaining how their titles would transition from PS4 to PS5, since nearly every publisher is taking a different approach to the issue of next gen cross-compatibility with their current games. The post mentioned that players on PS4 will be able to play games online with those on PS5, which is in line with Ubisoft’s promise to offer free next generation upgrades for games that are still coming out on the PS4, such as Watchdogs: Legion and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
But where we got this info regarding PlayStation 5’s total backwards compatibility support is a statement that was made at the end of the support page, claiming that “Backwards compatibility will be available for supported PlayStation 4 titles, but will not be possible for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, or PlayStation games.”
Ubisoft has since removed this statement from the page, but we don’t actually know why they did this. Sony has made no comment on the matter, so it is unclear if they do not want that information to be publicly available yet, or if it is just inaccurate.
This whole situation could mean that backwards compatibility beyond the PlayStation 4 just isn’t part of Sony’s plan for the PS5. It could also mean that Ubisoft just isn’t allowed to say otherwise, but considering the very little time remaining until the launch of the PlayStation 5 and the very vague messaging around which PS4 titles will be available to play on the PS5 even now, it’s more than likely the former, as opposed to the latter.
Either way, this is all in stark contrast to Xbox and Microsoft, who have already confirmed that the Xbox Series X will not only be able to play all Xbox One games, but also all the Xbox 360 and original Xbox games that are already backwards compatible with the Xbox One. And even beyond that, more backwards compatible games are expected to become available after the Xbox Series X launches. However, due to that being the case, Microsoft has postponed any more backwards compatibility projects for the Xbox One for the time being.
