One of the most persistent rumors about the PS5 is that Sony's next game console will be backward compatible with past PlayStation systems dating back to the PS1 While Sony has never spoken of such a thing, the possibility still surfaces from time to time, encouraged by enthusiasts and Sony's own patents

However, a recent Ubisoft support article seems to settle the issue definitively: the PS5 appears to be backward compatible with most PS4 games, but none older

The information comes from Ubisoft's support article, "PlayStation 4 Titles Moving to Next-Generation Versions" As you might expect, the article contains information about Ubisoft's program to offer PS5 versions of games purchased on PS4 The article is fairly short and links to a more comprehensive guide, but there is one important section at the end:

"Backward compatibility is available for compatible PlayStation 4 titles, but PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation games, but not available for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 games

This seems to solve the problem: many PS4 games are backward compatible with PS5, but PS1, PS2, and PS3 games are not (I doubt if any PS1, PS2, or PS3 games even have PS5 versions, but that's neither here nor there)

This limitation will not come as a shock to anyone who is familiar with how the PlayStation architecture has changed over time Without going into technical details, the PS3 used a completely different processing scheme than the PS4 and PS5, making backward compatibility nearly impossible; there is a reason that if you want to play a PS3 game on your PS4, you have to stream it through PlayStation Now

On the other hand, fans who believed that the PS5 would offer full backward compatibility cited streaming as one possible avenue; PlayStation Now and similar services could theoretically stream older games that players already own from Sony's servers streaming distribution (PlayStation Now already supports a number of older PlayStation games, so it's not entirely ridiculous to believe that Sony could expand PS Now's capabilities and library in the future However, it is still far from "full backward compatibility," as Ubisoft's message seems to deny

Once again, it should be pointed out that Sony itself has never promised backward compatibility on the PS5, except for PS4 games Mark Cerny noted in his March technical commentary on the console that the PS5 will be able to run the majority of PS4 games and will support the enhanced resolutions and frame rates available on PS4 Pro optimized titles PS5 will be backward compatible with everything" rumors seem to be nothing more than wishful thinking that started and crystallized on social media