Sony Explains Why PS4 Won’t Have Backwards Compatibility, Focus On Games And Services

Sony is currently winning the console war in terms of sales with its PS4 having notched up more than 22.3 million units worldwide as of March 31st 2015. However, Microsoft still serves as strong competition especially when it offers some things with its Xbox One that the PS4 doesn’t, like backwards compatibility.

What does SCE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida think of that, especially since the Xbox One’s backwards compatibility is free and Sony’s solution PS Now requires a subscription?

Speaking to Games Radar, Yoshida said, “We don’t have backwards compatibility with PS4. With PS Now you can play PS3 games on PS4, but the main purpose of PS Now is a network service. By removing the requirement of games running on the console itself we can bring PlayStation games to multiple devices, including non-PlayStation devices. We just announced an alliance with Samsung in the US so people who purchase Samsung TVs can play PlayStation games on their TV. So that’s the main purpose, not to provide backwards compatibility.

“I totally understand people asking for it, and if it was easy, we’d have done that. But our focus is creating PS4 games and adding new services. remaking games on PS4 makes the games even better – with The Last Of Us, you can play at 60 frames per second, and the same goes for Dark Souls II. Actually, I just finished Dark Souls II again on PS4.”

The PS4 is scheduled to receive a number of remasters like Uncharted Collection, Beyond: Two Souls and Heavy Rain along with new sequels such as Uncharted 4 and new IPs in Until Dawn and Everybody’s Gone To Rapture. What are your thoughts on Sony’s philosophy though? Let us know in the comments.