Imagine being a home chef with a kitchen full of utensils and recipes, but you are told that you can’t cook using your old recipes anymore because of the new stove you have purchased.
That would be absurd, right? And that is exactly how a gamer feels when they are told that a gaming console is not backward compatible.
A gaming console without backward compatibility does nothing but disservice to a loyal fan base. So does PS5 really do justice to its old fan base in this regard? are PS5 backward compatible with PS4 and the older gen consoles?
There is good and bad news here. The good news is that yes, PS5 is compatible with the vast majority of PS4 games. The bad news, however, is that PS3 and PS2 discs do not work with PS5.
Stay with me here as I take a deeper dive into how backward compatibility on PS5 works.
Are PS5 Backward Compatible with PS4?
PS5’s official love letter to the PS4 is as follows:
The PlayStation®5 console is backward compatible with the overwhelming majority of PlayStation®4 games.
This is the official statement inked down with love. It sufficiently tells the loyal fan base migrating from the PS4 console that it is compatible with their old games.
The good news does not end there. Some of the PS4 titles also get a performance boost when played on PS5 including faster load times as well as visual facelifts. This is mostly done through specific and tailor-made patches for certain older PS4 games being played on PS5.
Will PS4 Games Look Better on PS5?
As far as the visual enhancements go, PS4 games on PS5 will not look great out of the box. As mentioned earlier, they will need to have a specific patch released for PS5 enhancements.
But as far as the performance boost goes, such as improved load times, then yes, all PS4 games will get a boost on PS5.
GTA 5 is a good example of a PS4 game that got a visual boost on PS5.
Extent and Limitation of the PS5 Backward Compatibility
Unfortunately, there is always a catch. The PS5’s backward compatibility love letter to PS4 has some heartbreaking sub-notes.
While a huge number of PS4 games can work out of the box with PS5, there are some that are not compatible.
In addition to that, when it comes to supporting PS2 and PS3 games go, according to the official statement:
- PS5 consoles do not support PlayStation®3 discs. If you got your PS4 digital game through the PS3 game to PS4 digital game upgrade program (and therefore need the PS3 disc to play it), you will not be able to play that PS4 digital game on your PS5 console.This statement clarifies that PS5 is NOT backward compatible with games from the older PlayStation 3 (or older) generation.
So unfortunately, if you would like to relive the good old pixelated adventures of the PS3 or PS2 games, you will be thoroughly disappointed.
PS Now Subscription
It should be noted that while none of the DISC-based games from PS3 or PS2 consoles are supported, YOU CAN find some of the older titles on the PS Now subscription.
If you are subscribed to PS Now, you’ll be able to download some of the PS3 and PS2 titles that have been made available as DIGITAL downloads on PS5.
Again, as far as the disk-based support goes, anything past PS4 is NOT supported on PS5. This can be a bummer for retro gamers.
Final Words
So as far as the question of “Are PS5 backward compatible?” goes, the answer is yes, but with the following caveats:
- PS5 is fully backward compatible with PS4 games both disc and digital downloads
- PS5 is NOT compatible with disc-based PS3 and PS2 games.
- PS5 is compatible with PS3 and PS2 games if they have been made available as digital downloads on the PlayStation Subscription.
