Can I play PS3 games on PS5?

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Ps5 Design Official
Ps5 Design Official (Image credit: Sony via YouTube)

Best answer: Unfortunately, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan confirmed that only PS4 titles will be playable on the PS5. PS3, PS2, and PS1 titles will not be playable unless they're available on the PS Store.

Will the PS5 support PS3 titles?

The PS5 is backward compatible with PS4 games but will not play games from earlier Sony consoles. In an interview with Japanese site Famitsu (via Siliconera) PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan explained this is due to restrictions in the development process.

We keep in mind the engineering specialized for the PS5, as we produced the device. In the midst of that, the PS4 already has 100 million players; we thought they ought to want to play PS4 titles on the PS5 as well indeed, so we included compatibility with the PS4. While implementing that, we also focused our efforts on taking in the high-speed SSD and the new controller DualSense at the same time. So, unfortunately, we couldn't reach the implementation of such compatibilities.

This makes sense when you think about how the PS4 and PS5 are built around the same architecture. One of the key issues when moving from the PS3 to the PS4 was this internal difference, which made backward compatibility difficult. Playing a PS3 game on the PS4 was therefore impossible unless the game was remastered for the PS4 or was available digitally in the PS Store.

Still, it's important to note that this doesn't completely rule out the possibility for backward compatibility for PS3, PS2, or PS1 games, maybe on a future version of the PS5.

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Anthony J Nash
Anthony J Nash

Anthony Nash has been writing about games and the gaming industry for nearly a decade. When he’s not writing about games, he’s usually playing them. You can find him on Twitter talking about games or sports at @_anthonynash.