PS5 & Xbox Series X: 8 Biggest Questions We STILL Have

6. What Is Sony’s Stance On Backwards Compatibility?

For a while there - thanks to a patent filed by Lead System Architect, Mark Cerny - it looked like the PS5's disc drive would play every generation of PlayStation game in history.

Having lost the backwards compatibility vote to Xbox and selling past-gen titles over PS Now or as standalones instead, Sony have confirmed the PS5 will play PS4 games. However, Eurogamer clarified only those "from the top 100 played games by PS4 users will be backwards compatible by launch".

Clearly, although they're yet to make any definitive public statement on it, Sony are minimising our existing collections and looking to the future. Microsoft however, are all-in on letting you play older titles, as much of the Series X's unique hardware focused on automatically up-rezzing older games, adding HDR, faster load times etc.

A large part of the next generation will be focused on legacy content, and Sony are yet to clarify how PS1, PS2 or PS3 games are playable on PS5, if they are at all.