Sony’s Mark Cerny, lead architect on the upcoming PS5, recently sat down with Wired to reveal a bunch of new details on the next generation console. Of the many things he revealed, something that came to light that will undoubtedly make millions happy is the fact that the PS5 is going to be backwards compatible with all PS4 software.
The PS5 is based partly on the same x86 architecture that Sony used for the PS4, which means that the system will have a much easier time running its games than, say, the PS4 did running the Cell-based PS3’s titles. Considering how much flak Sony has gotten for its lack of support for backwards compatibility this generation – especially when direct competitors Microsoft have been making strides with the Xbox One in that same area – one can imagine how much of a big step this will be for the PS5.
Something else Cerny spoke of was cloud-based gaming- where Microsoft is clearly going to put great deal of emphasis on it with the xCloud, and Google’s going all in on it as well with the streaming-only Stadia, what Sony’s position will be has been big question, even with the ever-growing PS Now being a factor. While Cerny didn’t go into any specifics, he did say that Sony are “cloud-gaming pioneers”, and that their “vision should become clear as we head toward launch”. That said, the PS5 is still very much going to be a box in your living room that will run physical discs- so there’s no need to fret on that front.
Another interesting bit of information that emerged was that the PS5 will support 8K resolutions. But given how 4K has started to become much more widely accepted, the jump to 8K doesn’t come as much of a surprise, especially with a generational leap.