PlayStation says no to backward compatibility

Microsoft announced at E3 that they will update Xbox One to introduce backward compatibility with Xbox 360, both in digital download and in physical format. It is expected to reach all users during the Christmas campaign. Sony doesn’t seem interested to follow this path, at least for now.

PlayStation says no to backward compatibility

Jim Ryan, head of PlayStation Europe, has dispelled any doubts, in his opinion the possibility of using games from the last generation in the next one is hardly used and PS4 will not offer this feature. Ryan, who still doesn’t fully understand how backward compatibility works on Microsoft’s console, sees the decision as legitimate and “a logical approach if you’re looking to move Xbox 360 players to Xbox One.” But this is not the direction that Sony is taking, which prefers to stick with updates to Share Play, PlayStation Now and work on other features. Additionally, Ryan draws on Sony’s experience in offering backward compatibility to older systems. “The first model of the PS3 was backwards compatible with the PS2 and it is a very requested feature … but it really is not widely used.” Sony does not work on making PS4 compatible with PS3 games, but it does invest resources in transferring games from the past generation to the current one. The recent announcement of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls joins that of the Uncharted trilogy, The Last of Us or God of War III.

“We (and Microsoft) are just using different methods,” he continues. “Unfortunately there are not enough software engineers in the world for everyone to do everything. Each platform has to make decisions. Your choice is as legitimate as ours. In a way it is good that there are differences between the two consoles, and people will decide which of the two philosophies suits them better.

Jim Ryan is right that Xbox One backward compatibility isn’t exactly that, but rather an Xbox 360 emulation system, so there may be issues down the road for this option. Still, the undeniable thing is that, with or without problems, Xbox One is going to offer the possibility. We will see if Jim Ryan’s promise is fulfilled or, on the contrary, with the passage of time PS4 also ends up allowing the use of PS3 games.

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