Why Sony's Focus On Generations Is Making PS5 Worse
The concept of console generations has become murky, and as Sony has made the leap from the PS4 to PS5, some of the problem with PlayStation's distinct generations and how they affect backward compatibility has become apparent. The move from PS4 to PS5 or the Xbox One to a Series S/X console is more akin to a PC upgrade than ever. Both Sony and Microsoft’s current-gen systems are backward compatible with the prior gen, and both make use of the superior loading times of solid-state drives instead of mechanical hard drives. By attempting to artificially impose the concept of “generations” on PlayStation 5, Sony makes it harder to be a PlayStation fan, and gamers gain nothing in return.
The backward compatibility of the PS5 is currently limited to PS4 games, though patents hint at further prior-gen backward compatibility for the PS5 in the future. In these earlier generations there were more significant differences in the capabilities of Sony’s consoles and the kinds of games they could support. The leaps in storage capacity from the CD-based PS1 to the DVD-based PS2 were noteworthy. The PS3 continued this with its Blu Ray-based games, as well as its built-in hard drive, something only offered as an optional expansion for the PS2. Going further back, the Super Nintendo could not handle the polygonal games of the Nintendo 64, and the original NES could not support the color palette of Super NES titles. Each generation has seen improvements in graphics and sound, but with the current generation and its predecessor, consoles have become more PC-like than ever.
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When president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan said, “We believe in generations,”
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