Sony has reportedly told devs to make new PS4 games compatible with the PS5
Starting July 13, new PS4 titles that will be submitted for certification should be compatible with the PS5.
This, coming from a report courtesy of Eurogamer, was a mandate from Sony themselves based on developer documentation coming from an internal PlayStation partner website. While we may not know the full contents of the document, an important part of it details that any new game that will be developed for the PS4 should be forward compatible with the PS5.
To a certain extent, this pretty much confirms something we already know – that the PS5 will be almost fully backwards compatibility with the PS4.
July 13 was the cutoff set by Sony, but how about games like The Last of Us 2 or Ghost or Tsushima? Don’t worry, as both titles will be forward compatible with the PS5, as Eurogamer has “separately heard this will be the case…”
Readers will have to take note that a game released before or after the cutoff is not the same as a game that is submitted for certification. Typically, games set for release need to be submitted for Sony’s certification in advance to get a green light. Games, even updates or patches, submitted before the cutoff would not be required to be forward compatible, but ‘strongly recommended’. Consequently, submissions after the cutoff would fully require forward compatibility.
Does this mean that these ‘forward compatible’ games only need to be purchased once, similar to the Smart Delivery feature from the Xbox Series X, since it will be forward compatible? No details on that yet, but you can bet your socks that Sony is most likely looking at having the same pro-consumer feature into their next generation offering. It makes sense, and we’re hoping Sony sees it that way too.
We’re hoping to hear more about the PS5 soon, as soon as June 3 even, as a rumored PS5 showcase is expected to happen by then.