PlayStation boss believes cross-gen support “is the rational thing to do”

PlayStation boss has spoken about the console’s cross gen support, insisting “it’s the rational thing to do”.

As spotted by Wccftech, the latest issue of Edge magazine reportedly features an interview with Jim Ryan who has spoken further on the state of games being available across the PS4 and PS5 and how the company feels they have a “responsibility” to continue making games available between generations:

“We do feel that we have a responsibility to that very large community, and an opportunity to carry on making great PS4 games for as long as the need is there, and I think that is the right thing to do, it’s the rational thing to do, and I think you will see a tail with PS4 that you did not see with PS3,” Ryan explained. “But that said, as time passes, you’re going to see more and more emphasis on PS5 development and the PS5 SKU will be the lead SKU.”

Ryan’s comments are a stark contrast from points raised at the beginning of the year when he claimed he believed in console generations, stating: that it’s “time to give the PlayStation community something new, something different, that can really only be enjoyed on PS5”, per an interview with Gamesindustry.biz.

He also stressed at the time “that when you go to all the trouble of creating a next-gen console, that it should include features and benefits that the previous generation does not include”. Since then PlayStation announced that titles such as Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Sackboy: A Big Adventure would be available across PS5 and PS4.

Last month, Sony Interactive Entertainment vice president Hideaki Nishino also explained that the transition between consoles is expected to take three years and games will continue to be published for both consoles until that point.