Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Chief Executive Officer, Jim Ryan, has said that the PlayStation 5 doesn’t support older games unlike the Xbox Series X/S because of limited time and resources when designing new hardware. As a result, “important trade-offs” have to be made.
“What is important to recognize when considering this question about designing a new platform, is that time, engineering resource, and money are all finite, and that important trade-offs have to be made in terms of what’s included, and what’s not,” Ryan told Axios. He added that PS5 is fully backwards compatible with the PS4’s library because there was a “real desire” from fans to play PS4 games on their new consoles. As for supporting older games all the way back to the PS1 sometime in the future, Ryan had no comment on Sony’s plans.
According to Ryan, Sony prefers the approach that it took with the Ratchet & Clank series by releasing a PS4 remake of the PS2 classic, and later releasing a sequel exclusively on the PS5. “We believe this approach keeps our IP fresh and contemporary,” he added.
In the same interview, Ryan clarified a previous quote in which he appeared to dismiss older PlayStation games – a statement that has dogged him since 2017. He said that he respects PlayStation’s heritage and was just pointing out how far PlayStation has evolved since the first console.
“It goes with the territory, but I get a little bit frustrated at still being hit over the head with this one,” he told Axios.
[Source: Axios]
