PlayStation 5 Backward Compatibility to Support 4,000+ Games

After Sony’s perplexing PlayStation 5 specs briefing earlier this week, the company has clarified which PlayStation 4 games will be backward compatible. During the lecture, PlayStation 5 lead system architect Mark Cerny explained that fans can expect nearly all of the PlayStation 4’s top 100 games to be playable on the next console upon launch, but Sony has elaborated on that with a statement today on the PlayStation.Blog. They now say over 4,000 PlayStation 4 games will be playable on PlayStation 5, though it may take some time to incorporate them all:

With all of the amazing games in PS4’s catalog, we’ve devoted significant efforts to enable our fans to play their favorites on PS5. We believe that the overwhelming majority of the 4,000+ PS4 titles will be playable on PS5.

We’re expecting backward compatible titles will run at a boosted frequency on PS5 so that they can benefit from higher or more stable frame rates and potentially higher resolutions. We’re currently evaluating games on a title-by-title basis to spot any issues that need adjustment from the original software developers.

Sony goes on, explaining that it has “already tested hundreds of titles” to account for a backward compatibility performance boost with “thousands more” planned for the future. Of course, Sony also promises to share more on PlayStation 5 and backward compatibility as the year progresses.

The Escapist’s Marty Sliva recently broke down the lead-up to the release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X — and why they’ve been so weird.