Sony exec comments on PS4 Backwards compatibility and it’s bad news


While the Xbox One offers backwards compatibility, Sony’s PS4 is found sorely lacking in that regard, not offering the same kind of backwards compatibility as its biggest competitor does.

And recent comments by one of its execs suggest that it will remain that way. PlayStation Europe boss Jim Ryan made some rather surprising comments about backwards compatibility during an interview with Time Magazine.

He said although it was a much in demand feature but very less amount of people were likely to actually use it.

When we’ve dabbled with backwards compatibility, I can say it is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much,” Ryan told Time. “That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games, and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?

The only kind of backwards compatibility the PS4 offers at the moment comes in the form of its streaming service PlayStation Now and purchasing PS2 games through the PS Store. In both instances PS4 owners are required to purchase new copies, even if they already owned the older versions.

In stark contrast, the Xbox One offers a massive amount of backward compatible games such as Red Dead Redemption and none of them requires to make a second purchase.

It looks like the Xbox One will continue to have an edge over the PS4 in this regard going by the latest comments made by Sony.