Despite some flip-flopping on the topic and Sony executives insisting that backwards compatibility isn’t a big priority for the PS5, and then suddenly deciding that it was, in fact, a big deal for the company, we’ve finally settled on some kind of future for the feature going forward. In case you missed the news, Sony has confirmed that every PS4 game, bar ten, will be playable on the PS5. With the launch of digital-only consoles, it seems like playing old games has become more complicated than ever.

Now that’s only a half-truth because, while backwards compatibility has become more complicated thanks to digital purchases, it’s also not the pain you’re expecting it to be. Let’s delve into how you will play your PS4 games on your shiny new PS5.

You spin me right round

The easiest way to enjoy such PS4 classics such as God of War and Bloodborne on your PS5 is to just slide the disc in. Of course, this approach depends on you both having a disc copy of whatever game you’re wanting to play and the version of the PlayStation 5 with a Blu-ray disc drive. When you play a PS4 game on the PS5 off the disc you might need to download an update to ensure it’s compatible with the software on the console, but that’s really a small sacrifice to make. Unless you’re playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. We’re pretty sure that’s a large sacrifice to make.

Let’s get digital

Digital games are slightly more in-depth to get running but even then it’s still not hard. When you sign into your PlayStation account on your PS5 all the digital PS4 games you bought will appear in your library, which is traditionally the tab at the end of the console menu. Select the Library option and you’ll be taken to all your purchased games.

From there, all you need to do is download the game you’re after. If you want to ensure those older games don’t clog up the PS5’s SSD, you can even install them on an external hard drive and play them directly off that, which makes life so much easier for those Call of Duty players forced to download every monstrous patch.

Sony has also confirmed that users will have the option of transferring game and save data from the PS4 to the PS5 via a Wi-Fi connection or a LAN cable, which is more useful for the save data than anything else.

Upgrades? Upgrades

The best part of this whole process is that some PS4 games will offer an “upgrade” on the PS5 that will take the game and make it a full-on next-gen experience. Whether such an upgrade is free is up to the developers but many have already come out and said they’re offering the service for free. Games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Borderlands 3 and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla will all offer a free next-gen upgrade, which is really neat if you happen to already own the PS4 version!

The only thing you need to remember are the ten games (out of 4,000) that haven’t made the cut to jump to PS5. Fortunately for us, nothing especially popular (or good) is on the list. The PS4 games that are incompatible with the PS5 are:

DWVR
Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma Volume One
TT Isle of Man – Ride on the Edge 2
Just Deal With It!
Shadow Complex Remastered
Robinson: The Journey
We Sing
Hitman Go: Definitive Edition
Shadwen
Joe’s Diner

While Hitman Go: Definitive Edition and Shadow Complex Remastered sting a little, at least nothing else of value was lost.

The PlayStation 5 launches in South Africa on 19 November and will retail for R10,000 for the digital version and R12,000 for the standard console, equipped with that Blu-ray drive.

(Source: The Verge)