An interview with PlayStation global marketing head Eric Lempel reveals that Sony believes PlayStation 5 innovation will be more important than cross-gen PS4 support, at least when it comes to making games that push the boundaries of what the new console will be capable of. Sony has previously indicated that the company will continue to support the PS4 after the launch of its next-gen console, and those plans don’t seem to have changed – but there will certainly be a focus on the PS5, as would be expected.
Still, for many consumers, this leap between console generations appears to be the most friendly. In the case of Xbox, many titles available on Xbox One that will later be present on Xbox Series X will carry over onto the future console for free for those who purchased the previous-gen version. For Sony, the PlayStation 5 backwards compatibility feature will be a welcome addition to the console, since the PS4 lacked any backwards compatibility functionality, arguably the biggest flaw for an otherwise successful device. Previous reports have also indicated that, although the PS4 can display games in 60fps, many titles would not be taking advantage of that functionality so that they can be compatible across platforms and resolutions.
In an interview with Geoff Keighley as part of the ongoing Summer Games Fest, Lempel took some time to address what he believes is an obvious distinction between generations of technology that extends into Sony’s philosophy of what to prioritize when the PS5 launches later this year. According to Lempel, Sony “can’t take everybody with us from previous consoles,” and that reality means games won’t be priortized as cross-gen on PS4 and PS5 over pushing the new console’s technology to its limits. Lempel took the time to illustrate an example of why that would be the case in discussing the upcoming Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart:
“It isn’t just about faster loading time. You take a great developer like Insomniac and they found a way to say ‘ok look, here’s a game that could only be made on PlayStation 5, on this generation, using this technology.’ A lot of what you saw on the show, jumping through those different worlds instantly can’t be done in most cases. It needs new hardware, it needs new power.“
Lempel’s comments seem to point towards some disparity in next-gen philosophy between Sony and Microsoft, as the former prioritizes its new technology while Microsoft will be attempting to make first-party games playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X for the first few years of the next-gen life cycle. Lempel emphasized that it would not be possible for Insomniac to make the same game on a PS4, stating that fans “would be playing a different type of game and the experience would be different.” That doesn’t mean that the PS4 won’t have more to offer, however, as Lempel also emphasized that the PS4 “will continue to be a big part of everything we [Sony] do.“
The focus on the PS5 launch will mean the console churns out very powerful first-party titles early on in its life cycle. Just because Sony will be focusing on the current generation doesn’t mean third-party developers won’t support titles across different generations of gaming, though, so it’s not like those who can’t make the leap from PS4 to PS5 will be completely left behind. That, in conjunction with whatever support is planned for the PS4 after the PS5’s launch, should ensure that the console remains relevant – it just won’t be Sony’s focus any longer.
