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Gaming

18th Sep 2020

Bad news – the PlayStation 5 definitely won’t play PS1, PS2 or PS3 games

Wil Jones

If you have been hanging onto that PS1 copy of Croc hoping to play it again, we have bad news for you

Despite rumours of backward compatibility, it has been confirmed that the PlayStation 5 will not play any of your old PlayStation 1, 2 or 3 games.

In an interview with Japanese games mag Famitsu (translated by Siliconera), PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan said that making the game compatible with nearly all PS4 games was the priority.

“We keep in mind the engineering specialized for the PS5, as we produced the device. In the midst of that, the PS4 already has 100 million players; we thought they ought to want to play PS4 titles on the PS5 as well indeed, so we included compatibility with the PS4,” replied Ryan when asked about compatibility with older titles.

“While implementing that, we also focused our efforts on taking in the high-speed SSD and the new controller DualSense at the same time. So, unfortunately, we couldn’t reach the implementation of [PS1 to 3] compatibilities.”

Ryan had already confirmed that the PlayStation 5 will play 99% of PlayStation 4 games. So if you still haven’t finished Red Dead Redemption 2, you be able to complete Arthur Morgan’s saga on the new machine.

A key part of the PS4 backward compatibility will be PlayStation Plus Collection. PS5 owners who subscribe to PS Plus will have access to a collection “generation-defining PS4 games” all available to download. Which is great if you skipped the PS4 and want to catch up on the games everyone has been telling you to play.

This the full list of PlayStation Plus Collection games, featured in the trailer shown at Wednesday’s PlaySation 5 Showcase.

  • Battlefield 1
  • Batman: Arkham Knight
  • Bloodborne
  • Days Gone
  • Detroit: Become Human
  • Fallout 4
  • Final Fantasy XV
  • God of War
  • inFamous: Second Son
  • The Last Guardian
  • The Last of Us Remastered
  • Monster Hunter: World
  • Mortal Kombat X
  • Persona 5
  • Ratchet & Clank
  • Resident Evil 7
  • Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
  • Until Dawn