PlayStation 4 Abandons Backwards Compatibility

[MikeWehner]

PlayStation 4 Abandons Backwards Compatibility

Don't go trading in that PS3 any time soon, because they won't work on the PS4.

While Sony remained quiet regarding the PS4's ability to play older PS3, PS2, or PS1 games during its official event last night, the company has now made things perfectly clear: The PlayStation 4 will not have backwards compatibility built into the system. Speaking with journalists during a roundtable session, President of Sony Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida laid the out the facts.

"No backwards compatibility. You can quote me on that," Yoshida stated, noting that in the future the console could conceivably accomplish the task through either cloud services or software emulation, but that such talk is completely hypothetical at this point.

The PlayStation 4 - unlike the PS2 and PS3 before it - will not support native backwards compatibility out of the gate. Of course, the PS3 later dropped the feature, so there was really no reason to think the PS4 would be any different. This means that if you want to keep your collection of physical PS3 game discs in your software library, you'll need to hang onto the system itself as well.

Source: Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/21/4013130/ps4-psn-backwards-compatibility-gaikai-cloud]

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[Fappy]

That's pretty damn lame. Oh well, hopefully somewhere down the line they'll make a super tiny version of the PS3 and sell it for super cheap like they did with the PS2.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

The PS3 still has PS1 compatibility right? Does the PS4? I mean, it's just a matter of emulation with the PS1, right?

 

[Tohuvabohu]

Not even PS1 backwards compatibility? Huh.

Besides that, color me completely unsurprised.

 

[The White Hunter]

Well I can see why it'd take the wind out of the sails for some people but I'm yet to trade a system in (case in point: I have a Wii, Wii U and GameCube all hooked up at the flick of a switch, why you ask? Because sometimes emulation isn't perfect and I'm a gigantic loser. :3)

 

[RaikuFA]

Like I said in another thread, Sony just does not want my support. Heres hoping the PS4 fails at first so they can fix all of these problems people are having with it. Till them, no sale from me.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Can't say I'm surprised and I would be surprised if backwards compatibility would be on the PS4.

Good thing I don't plan on getting rid of my PS3.

That's pretty damn lame. Oh well, hopefully somewhere down the line they'll make a super tiny version of the PS3 and sell it for super cheap like they did with the PS2.

They might, and that would be a good gesture on Sony's part. At this point, all we can do is wait until E3 for the rest of the details concerning this thing.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Well, it's not like we couldn't see that coming.

Not the worst thing, I guess, but somehow I wish buying a new console wouldn't feel so much like a forced relocation.

 

[loa]

Yeah, no.
They have no excuse not to have a ps2 software emulator with all the processing power that thing has.
But then again, why have that out of the box on day 1 and give me an actual reason to consider getting that thing to finally replace my ps2.

 

[Zouriz]

For crying out loud, did Sony learn nothing from the Vita? This is the reason the Vita is constantly being out sold by the PSP.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

And I await the announcement that you can buy PS2 and 3 Classics on the PSN store. Why make it backwards compatible when you can sell it to them again?

 

[Zeraki]

Yeah, I'm pretty much done with this console generation. The PS4 was really the only thing I was interested in, since I refuse to buy Microsoft's next console. If I do get one, it won't be until many years down the road and after a price drop.

The lack of backwards compatibility on its own is pretty bad, but not being allowed to keep your games you bought on PSN? Yeah both those things combined are a major deal breaker for me.

But at least we have useless social media features shoved in where we don't need them.

 

[Igen]

Well F#@% you to sony. If the company wants to make money, wouldn't backwards compatable make it more competitive? And the whole PSN purchases not transfering over? The hell sony? I have no reason to upgrade to an 'entertainment wise' inferior product.

 

[VanQ]

If Sony releases it without backwards compatibility people will ***** about that.

If Sony had released the PS4 with backwards compatibility it would have raised the price and people would ***** about that.

You just can't win with those kinds of people. I'm aware we still don't know how much the PS4 will cost but building PS3 hardware into it would not be free.

 

[BrotherRool]

They pretty much did mention it in the conference, but they also mentioned that they hopefully aim to have a streaming service that will stream PS1/2/3/N games onto various devices including, presumably, the PS4

 

[Sylveria]

PS4 also won't give you access to your PSN games.

You just can't win with those kinds of people. I'm aware we still don't know how much the PS4 will cost but building PS3 hardware into it would not be free.

No reason they couldn't do what the Wii-U does with the Wii which is OS and Software emulation rather than hardware emulation like the 60gig PS3s did. The PS4 has the power to easily play PS1, PS2, and PSN games through emulation and probably PS3 games if they wanted to. Instead they're opting to try and push their cloud-gaming service which, for anyone who's tried previous attempts at cloud gaming, is not good.

 

[anthony87]

Well......shit. Although my PS3 is backwards compatible I'm worried that it may be on its way out soon. Honest question though.......why not? I mean it's not like the backwards compatibility would be hard for them to implement right?

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Annnnnnnnd...(face hits computer desk) *Sigh*

Well, guess I won't be buying one at launch then. Throw in the fact that the PSN isn't transferring over right away, and that's two of the three things I was hoping for down the drain.

(Looks to Microsoft) Your move. Do this right, and I'll buy yours first.

 

[OZAuCkn7J28sHLCv]

I don't think anybody should be surprised by this. The only way the Playstation 4 could be a decent improvement on the the Playstation 3 whilst keeping within the price bracket of a launch console is to move to a well established PC architecture, and when changing architecture, you need to recompile everything from scratch, i.e. games need to be republished at the publisher's expense.

It's keep your soon-to-be-worthless in resale PS3 in a cupboard somewhere, or pay beyond-console prices for an upgraded Cell processor.

Edit: also, the cell processor is not more powerful than anything like a desktop core i5 upwards. A Processor which cost $200 5 years ago is not better than a recent processor of the same price range. IF that were true, PC gaming *would* be dead.

 

[dragongit]

People remember the PS3 fat, how it was backwards compatable, bulky, and 600 dollars? Would you perfer if Sony released the PS4 and tacked on a mini PS3 inside of it, at the cost of another 600 dollars? They cut it out because compatability issues because the PS3's architecture was unusual with it's processing cells. Developers didn't know what to do with it. So as they progressed to this new generation, I assume PS3 games wern't simply working outright on the new rig. BluRay discs in and of themselves will hopefully still work, but the way games are read may be different.

People dont' seem to ***** how current PS3s can't do backwards compatability. People will just find any reason to ***** for the sake of bitching. I get it, you want to have all in one like they promised. Perhaps they will devise a system using cloud gaming where we can "rent" games. Subscribe to a service like netflix or in this case, the PSN+ and with a specific fee, can play a library of games so long as the subscription persists. For the sake of owning games we still have our old consoles. I get some people want to trade them in for the sake of a new console, but sony decided that improving the core system and the games that it will be designed to play would be the focus, instead of making sure the library of games would be open during it's transitional period. Agreed that it will make first day perchases more limited, though it could potentially save us a lot of money from them trying to "fix" the backwards compatability issue.

I'm going to be keeping my PS3 for the time being, I still own my old PS1 and 2, and when I want to play those games I lug them out and play on them. If I recall the Xbox360 had horrendus backwards compatability, and people arn't bitching about it anymore. This will be the same. If you want to wait for a price drop, go right ahead, don't count this system completely out until it's been released, maybe it's launch lineup will be good enough to warrent a buy.