Last year, Microsoft announced that they would be enabling backwards compatibility on Xbox one for Xbox 360 games. It was a great move – backwards compatibility is generally not a feature that is much used, and is most useful at the beginning of a console generation, to enable a smooth transition between systems – but it represented the new, consumer friendly way that Microsoft was doing things, in stark contrast with how Sony was handling legacy content on the PS4 with PS Now.
Eventually, Sony announced PS2 Classics on the PS4 too, but they handled it terribly- none of your already purchased legacy content in the guise of PS2 Classics on PS3 carried over to the PS4- put simply, you would have to repurchase GTA: San Andreas if you wanted to play it on the PS4. It was a crying shame, and it was an important area where Microsoft definitely acted more ‘for the gamers’ than Sony did.
Obviously, we as customers were unhappy about it- but how do developers feel about the differences in Microsoft and Sony’s strategy? GamingBolt recently had the chance to sit down and talk with Flying Wild Hog, the folks who brought us Shadow Warrior, and who are currently working on Hard Reset Redux, and we asked them what their take on the differences in approach to backwards compatibility was.
“We love the idea of backwards compatibility and we wish PS4 would have it the same way Xbox One does,” a representative from Flying Wild Hog said to GamingBolt. “There are a ton of old PlayStation games we would really like to come back to.”
Indeed, there is no real reason why continuity could not have been achieved between legacy content offered on PS3, and the legacy content offered on the PS4. No reason, that is, other than Sony wanting to maximize on revenue.