With the console war heating up as usual, it seems the only two big names to accept the punch-up invitation in the market are Sony and Microsoft – with their PS4 and Xbox One, respectively (with Nintendo lost somewhere in oblivion).
As far as numbers are concerned, PS4 has already notched up more than 22.3 million units in console sales worldwide as of 31 March, 2015.
While both the consoles come with their own special attributes, it seems currently the talk of the town is revolving around the highly sought-after backward compatibility feature that lets you play old games on your new console. As of now, Microsoft offers the feature via its Xbox One, while PS4 doesn't.
So what does Sony have to say about the issue, especially since the Xbox One backward compatibility remains a free feature, while in case of Sony, it's a paid service, via its PS Now service. Luckily, SCE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida had a thing or two on his mind about the issue.
Speaking to Games Radar about the situation, Yoshida said: "We don't have backwards compatibility with PS4. With PS Now you can play PS3 games on PS4, but the main purpose of PS Now is a network service."
"By removing the requirement of games running on the console itself we can bring PlayStation games to multiple devices, including non-PlayStation devices. We just announced an alliance with Samsung in the US so people who purchase Samsung TVs can play PlayStation games on their TV. So that's the main purpose, not to provide backwards compatibility."
Yoshida added that he understands that people are asking for it, and that if it was easy, the company would have done it.
"But our focus is creating PS4 games and adding new services. remaking games on PS4 makes the games even better – with The Last Of Us, you can play at 60 frames per second, and the same goes for Dark Souls II. Actually, I just finished Dark Souls II again on PS4."
On the issue of Microsoft being able to introduce the backward compatibility ahead of Sony's PS4, Yoshida said: "I was very surprised. It must have taken lots of effort for them to realise the backwards compatibility, because the Xbox 360 and Xbox One use very different kinds of architecture. And I'm very curious."
"They showed a very short list of titles that work, and doing software emulation means you have to work title by title. So I'm curious to see what kind of games will be included in those 100 games that they say will be compatible by the end of the year," he added.
Stay tuned for more updates!
[Source: Gamingbolt, Games Radar]
