(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Losing legacy support wasn't an easy decision for the platform holder


There’s no doubt that the PlayStation 4 is exciting for all sorts of reasons, but the next generation system’s You must login or register to view this content. remains one of its biggest blemishes. While You must login or register to view this content. through Gaikai, the fact remains that your entire PlayStation 3 catalogue may never be supported by the impending machine. This, according to system architect Mark Cerny, was a subject that the entire company agonised over.


Chatting with Japanese publication You must login or register to view this content. [via You must login or register to view this content.], Cerny explained that he spent an entire Thanksgiving weekend trying to solve the problem of backward compatibility. In the end, he decided that switching to the more developer-friendly X86 architecture would result in more advantages for the console than legacy support.


“We struggled with this point,” he said. “We decided to focus on the ‘positive aspects’ of switching to X86. If a different architecture had been selected, it probably would have been even more problematic. The X86 architecture is well known and development is relatively easy.”


Sony’s Masayasu Ito added that while backward compatibility is undoubtedly important, it would have required the company to include the PS3’s cumbersome CELL chip inside the next generation console, which could have led to manufacturing headaches down the line. “We can freely manufacture CELL if the decision is made that it’s needed,” he explained. “However, that’s not the case with supporting hardware. There are parts that will become difficult to obtain.”


Ito added that the company thought “long and hard” about the decision to not include backward compatibility, but ultimately opted to make a clean break. “Using this opportunity, we decided to stop going down this path, and, as Mark said, to focus our efforts on simplifying developer efforts,” he concluded. The advantages of such an approach are plentiful, as You must login or register to view this content..


Are you happy to substitute backward compatibility for better performing games, or do you wish that Sony had found a means to support PS3 titles on the PS4? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.


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I like my games to go smooth instead of freezing garbage all over the place but i think we need to move on old games are old games and we want innovation not old things

I don't really care about backwards compatibility it's called Next Gen for a reason. Yes it would be nice but i still have a ps3 if i wanted to play them games

yeah im all for next gen! ps3 games will be played on my ps3 if i keep it.

I'll be keeping my PS3. I was disappointed to hear tha the PS4 wont be backwards compatible, but I understand.

personally im glad they chose this route, my ps3 will still be connected to my tv so anytime i feel like playing a ps3 game i will turn on the ps3. the next gen system is about progress and moving forward in the technology of gaming. im just hoping that the game developers are happy and will take full advantage of the new system.

Old games apparently aren't all that important anymore due to the age we are living in, but if game developers can incorporate what they have learned from their previous creations what to implement in newer games, then there should be no problem and it should be easier for people to game with satisfaction.

o well, i've been playing playstation since it was first introduce and would still support it.

I honestly don't care if they never implement backwards compatibility again as long as they offer games I want to play on their current system. I remember being all up in arms when I found out that backwards compatibility was being phased out from the PS3. I was waiting for a price drop and refused to shell out $600 because I just didn't have it. I got my PS3 right at the first price drop back in 2009 and since then, I have only played mainly current gen games. My PS3 backlog is so enormous that even if I had a PS3 with backwards compatibility, I would never use it.

The only game I've played recently that I also played last generation was Okami. Honestly, it felt more like a chore the second time around. It was still a fun game, but it was a lot more fun the first time around. I'd rather remember the good games I played for what they were, not how bad they've aged in context to newer offerings.

better than porting x-box games i suppose