PlayStation 5 Will Be Backwards Compatible With 99% of PS4 Games

Don't throw out your old PlayStation 4 games just yet, because Sony has confirmed that the upcoming PlayStation 5 will support "99%" of current-gen titles through backwards compatibility. There's been some confusion in regards to which or how many older games would work on the PS5, but we now finally have some idea.

Speaking to The Washington Post, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan confirmed the number, meaning only 1% of PS4's substantial catalogue of games will be unable to run on Sony's next-gen system. It's not yet clear which games are involved in this unlucky minority of titles that didn't make the cut... but it doesn't sound like any of our firm favourites have been left out of the PS5 party.

In fact, we already have some idea of which PS4 games will run on PS5 thanks to the PlayStation Plus Collection. Sony recently announced this new next-gen perk, which will give PS5 owners with a subscription to the online service access to a library of "generation-defining" PS4 titles on the next-gen console from day one. You can read up on the full list of games here, but hits like The Last Of Us Remastered, God Of War, Persona 5, and Batman: Arkham Knight are all present and correct.

Ryan also touched on how much longer we can expect the PS4 to receive support from Sony, and it sounds like the company is willing to wait a little while for all of us to make the upgrade to PS5.

"The PS4 community will continue to be incredibly important to us for three or four years," he said. "Many will transition to PS5, we hope if we do our job well, but tens of millions will still be engaged with the PS4."

While this is slightly at odds with previous comments made by Sony about embracing the future of PlayStation, it's heartening to know that the PS4 has some life in it yet. Two of the biggest PlayStation 5 games - Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon Forbidden West - will also be launching on the current-gen PlayStation, giving more people a chance to check out these anticipated releases.

"We know that the PS4 community will transition to PS5 at different times," Sony wrote in a blog post. "We're happy to announce PS4 versions of some of our exclusives. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sackboy A Big Adventure, and Horizon Forbidden West will also launch on PS4."

The PlayStation 5 launches November 19th in the UK, but clearly there's no rush on picking one up. Take your time, and enjoy your PS4 while you still can.

Featured Image Credit: Sony