New PS4 Games Must also Run on PlayStation 5 from July

The gaming community has been eagerly awaiting the launch of the PlayStation 5 since talk of it’s release started late last year. With the release date drawing closer, attention has turned to the games that will be available to play upon its release, and the most recent news from Sony has gamers more excited than ever.

Sony has issued recommendations to PlayStation 4 game developers that any game updates issued for certification after the 13th of July should also be compatible with the new PlayStation 5. Technically, this means that after this date, each game received by Sony should be forwards-compatible. However, it’s up to the game developers themselves to ensure that this is the case.

Game developers have had access to testing software for the PS5 since April of this year, in the hope that they will have made provisions to make their games compatible with the PlayStation 5 ahead of its release date, expected to be November of this year. However, it is important to remember that this submissions date is not the same as the release date. Games are usually submitted for certification way in advance of their release date to ensure Sony can put it through the certification process in time.

So far, there hasn’t been much confirmative information on which games released after July 13th will actually be forwards-compatible with the PlayStation 5. However Eurogamer reports that certain flagship titles, such as The Last of Us 2, and Ghost of Tshushima are certain to be compatible with the next generation model. This has given keen gamers extra hope that the majority of new releases will ensure their software is compatible on the new PlayStation 5, even though issues that need adjustment will be left up to the developers themselves to handle.

The official statement from PlayStation back in March read: “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.”

The statement continued: “In his presentation, Mark Cerny provided a snapshot into the Top 100 most-played PS4 titles, demonstrating how well our backward compatibility efforts are going. We have already tested hundreds of titles and are preparing to test thousands more as we move toward launch. We will provide updates on backward compatibility, along with much more PS5 news, in the months ahead. Stay tuned!”

With this is mind, excitement for the new consoles has been heightened more than ever. New games, such as Godfall, never played before on PlayStation will be making their first ever appearance. On top of this, existing games such as Warframe and Fortnite are reported to be able to be enhanced (possibly for free) to be able to be played on the new console. It seems like the arrival of the PlayStation 5 will truly be a revolutionising time for gaming.

Image Source: Sony PlayStation