Paradigm via Sony

Sony has filed a patent that observers take to suggest that backwards compatibility may finally be coming to PlayStation v and PlayStation 4. It'southward known that the PS5 already runs PS4 games effortlessly, just the diction of patent implies that both consoles may exist able to run PS3, PS2, and PS1.

Sony filed the patent, first spotted by GamingBible, on Jan 6, although information technology's credited to Marker Cerny and Patrick Simpson, veteran video game developers and collaborators with the company. In scientific terms, the patent was filed "for astern compatibility through use of spoof clock and fine grain frequency control," which will decide "whether an application loaded on a current version of a system is for the current version of the arrangement or a less powerful version of the organization."

Put simply, should this method of backwards compatibility exist applied to the PS5 and the PS4, both consoles volition be able to read whether a game existence loaded is for whatsoever of those systems or the PS1 through PS3, which weren't comparatively powerful in the first place. If the games existence loaded into the PS5 or PS4 were originally designed for their predecessors, and so they'll run those games "at a second clock frequency when the application is designed for a dissimilar version of the system, wherein the different version of the system is characterized by a different standard clock frequency."

To give an example, the PS5 is natively gear up to run games at 60 FPS per second, exist it games designed for that system or the PS4. As it stands, nosotros can't pop a PS3 or PS2 disc into whatever of those consoles because the hardware they were designed for cuts the framerate in half, and the PS5 and PS4 won't sync them properly, giving rise to errors and glitches that may potentially harm the consoles beyond repair. Still, if the method of backwards compatibility described in the patent is implemented into the PS5, then information technology'll emulate the entire back itemize of PlayStation games without issues and so long as they're running at a lower speed than the panel is used to.

PlayStation Now already has a limited number of PS3 and PS2 games in its library, such equally Final Fantasy Ten and Ten-2, the Thou Theft Auto trilogy, and Sonic Unleashed. But the streaming service doesn't emulate them besides as Xbox Game Pass does with games fabricated for Xbox 360 and Xbox due to connection lag. Once this backwards compatibility method rolls out — if it does — the PS4 and PS5 will be able to run those same games and more than without problems.