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Why PlayStation can't hold a candle to Xbox's backward compatibility

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Why PlayStation can't hold a candle to Xbox's backward compatibility

The latest Xboxes haven't exactly been a raging success. Together, the Series X and S still rank a distant third in global console sales behind the Nintendo Switch 2 and Sony's PlayStation 5 lineup. It's not that Microsoft committed an overwhelming blunder — rather, there just haven't been any compelling exclusives. Microsoft may see an influx of customers with Grand Theft Auto VI, but it's hitting PS5 simultaneously.

But there are some things that are better on Xbox, one of them being backward compatibility. Not everyone is willing to fork out $60 to $80 for a new game when there are hundreds of genuine classics available to play for cheap. That's a big reason why PC gaming is so popular — while the hardware often costs thousands of dollars, some of the best games ever made are now less than $10 on stores like Steam and GOG.

Back to consoles, though. How can Xbox trounce the PS5's backward compatibility when Microsoft didn't even enter the console game until 2001? As it turns out, Sony made a fateful decision several years ago that's actually forcing it to depend on newer games for popularity. It's paying off, but possibly at your expense.

When preparing to launch the PS5, Sony sacrificed compatibility with the first three PlayStation consoles, as former Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan told Japan's Famitsu in 2020. The problem was that the company was more devoted to incorporating new technologies such as its DualSense controllers and the switch to SSD storage, and ultimately decided to limit itself to PS4 support.


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