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How much weight does backwards compatibility holds for you NEXT Gen?

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Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Just to drive the conversation, i want to put down a couple of scenarios, just to guide the conversation along...

1) No Backwards compatibility. Next Hardware from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft only runs new Software. 4K remasters and Remakes assured to happen.

2) Partial BC. Consoles run the games from previous Gen. So, Ps5 also runs Ps4 but nothing else etc etc etc

3) Full BC. Next consoles will run anything you have the disc for in that family of consoles.


4) Digital migration BC. Your previous account system will transfer to the new Hardware, and Digital titles you had on your previous account carry to the new one, but nothing else.

So, first of all... is this a deal breaker to you? Would you not purchase a new console if you knew for sure there will never be an BC on the next gen of consoles?

Secondly, would this sway your purchase? Lets say one company does full BC and the other does not. Would that push you more to one console over the other? Regardless of which one is it.

Now that Remasters and Remakes are very much a common thing on our gaming cycle, how much power does Backward Compatibility hold going forward for you as a consumer?
 

hiphopcr

Member
Not just backwards compatibility. Super backwards compatibility. I want every xbox game I've owned playable, going back to the original Xbox.

Knowing my entire library carries over (and will play better) ensures I'm a customer for life.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I think BC with PS4 titles are a given.
I really don't see developer's or even Sony wanting to Remaster the same games every gen
Sure we'll get Remasters but they'll be SOTC type Remasters
 

astroglide

Member
It's important to me. If always bought every system released but due to time I won't be doing that next gen. Having all my games in one device is key. Most likly I'll be going Xbox for this due to bc and playing games on pc. I fully expect ps5 to be bc but not switch 2. Nintendo seems to be behind on things like pc network cloud saves etc
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
I think it will be important, I think classics from this gen will age very well.
I wonder if GTA6 will launch with the next gen systems or if it will be a year wait for an enhanced edition.

I think BC with PS4 titles are a given.
I really don't see developer's or even Sony wanting to Remaster the same games every gen
Sure we'll get Remasters but they'll be SOTC type Remasters

Possibly but sony may return to arrogant sony after the PS4 SUCCESS and the money they could make from remasters might get the better of them.
 
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I won’t be buying any next gen console that doesn’t have atleast partial BC.

However I think that’s very improbable. All three switched to x86 making BC pretty much a cake walk next gen. They would have to intentionally cripple their hardware in order to not support partial BC next gen.
 
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Fbh

Member
Partial BC is a big factor for me now. I really hope the Ps5 can run all PS4 games ....and hopefully make them retroactively better.

Moving forward I really hope we reach a point where I can just buy a game for "playstation" instead of a specific console so that when I buy a game I know it will work with all future consoles from that point onwards.


The big reason I see more value in PC games is that on top of being cheaper they will probably work with all future computers or hardware upgrades I go through instead of being locked to the one PC I had at the time of purchasing it.
 

hiphopcr

Member
I think BC with PS4 titles are a given.
I really don't see developer's or even Sony wanting to Remaster the same games every gen
Actually I'm sure Sony and developers would love to remaster and keep selling us the same game over and over.

But Microsoft's consumer friendliness will force their hand next gen.
 

Leonidas

Member
Just to drive the conversation, i want to put down a couple of scenarios, just to guide the conversation along...

1) No Backwards compatibility. Next Hardware from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft only runs new Software. 4K remasters and Remakes assured to happen.

2) Partial BC. Consoles run the games from previous Gen. So, Ps5 also runs Ps4 but nothing else etc etc etc

3) Full BC. Next consoles will run anything you have the disc for in that family of consoles.

4) Digital migration BC. Your previous account system will transfer to the new Hardware, and Digital titles you had on your previous account carry to the new one, but nothing else.

So, first of all... is this a deal breaker to you? Would you not purchase a new console if you knew for sure there will never be an BC on the next gen of consoles?

Secondly, would this sway your purchase? Lets say one company does full BC and the other does not. Would that push you more to one console over the other? Regardless of which one is it.

Now that Remasters and Remakes are very much a common thing on our gaming cycle, how much power does Backward Compatibility hold going forward for you as a consumer?

I want 2, 3 and 4.

2) I want the partial BC Xbox and Xbox 360 already has in place for Xbox One which allows you to use either disc or digital version.
3) I want Full BC for at least the PS1 and PS2 like the PS3 offered a decade ago, a feature which was taken from us by Sony and never given back.
4) I want full digital migration on all platforms. I want to buy a Game Pass subscription and have an instant game collection of 100+ Xbox titles along with the next-gen first party launch lineup.

I want it all! If I get no BC then the next gen gets no purchase from me. If I get only previous gen BC then I will probably just stick to the previous gen console for longer...
 
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kunonabi

Member
Hard to say. I'm all digital on PS4 so all that moving over would be nice if I was jumping in early on the PS5 but I probably won't get till much later if at all so who knows. Switch successor kind of depends on whether or not it's port city again. If so I'd like the BC but they would probably want to force the double dipping so it might not even be an option. If both consoles actually came off the blocks with brand new exclusives/major Japanese 3rd party support I wouldn't really care about BC much at all really.
 

KevinKeene

Banned
I fully expect the Switch to follow the Iphone-model, so all Switch-games should ve running on Switch 2. Moreover, Switch 2-games will run on Switch 1, but with lesser settings. When the Switch 3 launches, support for Switch 1 stops, and now you have Switch 3 for high-settings and Switch 2 for low-settings. And so on.

Would be shocked if that wasn't what's going to happen, since it makes the most sense considering the consolidation if everything-Nintendo.
 

JP

Member
It's never really been a thing for me. It's always better to have it than not have it but I tend not to use it myself so it wouldn't have any bearing on me buying a console or not.
 

goldenpp72

Member
If it actually worked on everything, a lot. As it is now not at all. Real BC basically died with Wii U, real shame.
 

Sakura

Member
BC is not a factor for me at all. I have a PS4, PS3, and PS2. If there was an older game I really wanted to play for some reason, I would just bust out my older console. I rarely use BC as it is on my consoles that have it.
That being said, a situation where say, I own Stardew Valley on the PS4, but can't play it on the PS5 unless I buy it again would be pretty bullshit. It's the same PS store, I already paid for the game, I should be able to redownload it and play it on the new hardware, barring a remake or something. I strongly doubt they would make those digital games BC though.
 

Artistic

Member
Not just backwards compatibility. Super backwards compatibility. I want every xbox game I've owned playable, going back to the original Xbox.

Knowing my entire library carries over (and will play better) ensures I'm a customer for life.
.

Still do want to experience the competitors consoles as well.
 

YoshiMax

Member
I’m Xbox this gen - I’ve no doubt at all I’ll be able to play everything on whatever comes next so I’m totally on board with what they do. The other two are massive unknown quantities Nintendo are shocking for selling you the same game (barely even qualifying for “remaster” status) over and over again - who knows with Sony but if they didn’t do anything it wouldn’t surprise me at all. Crazy waste of an astounding legacy library if they don’t.
 
Its huge for me as someone who buys and plays alot of games, I don't think it would detour me from not buying a next gen console and as gamers we've all shot ourselves in the foot by buying remasters. So basically, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft already know they can make more money off remasters by not including it.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
I'd say it plays a pretty huge factor. I've bought a huge number of physical PS4 games this gen (nearly 300) as well as digital games (200-ish, mostly from PS+) so if the PS5 can't play them out of the box I probably won't be that interested in it until it has a pretty sizable library of games I want to play. I'm not holding my breath on this one, but Sony could surprise me.

As for Xbox, I didn't have one last gen but I've been buying a fair few 360 games to play on my Xbox One. For Xbox One games I've gone mostly digital. If the next Xbox can't play either XB1 games or stuff that can be currently played via BC, I'm not interested at all.

Nintendo I expect nothing and still end up disappointed.
 

Kamina

Golden Boy
I think with this gen we’ve reached a step where it is really important. Devs could simply push updates to PS4/XBone games on PS5/NextBox, similar as Pro/OneX.
 

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
None really, I'm a system hoarder by nature anyway so can always hook up an old system if I want to play something.

There's also zero guarantee that, if this digital only future you seem to crave becomes a thing, that the game you want to play might not get released anyway or ever become backward compatible.
 

arhra

Member
BC doesn't have a significant impact on whether or not I buy the console (it might affect what order I buy them in, but I'll end up buying all of them sooner or later again anyway), but it makes a big impact on which platform I prefer to buy games on - even before getting the X, I was buying multi-plats on Xbox simply because Microsoft's publicly stated stance on BC makes me much more confident that they'll be playable on future consoles.
 
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lifa-cobex

Member
It's a big point for me. It's getting very cluttered under my tv cabinet and I want an all in one system.
I loved my 60Gig PS3. It felt like a proper entertainment system with everything I could want all in one case.

I leaning heavily towards passing the next gen systems and sticking to PC. Full B/C might make me re-consider.
 

Chozo_Lord

Member
For the ps5, not having full ps4 backwards compatibility would be extremely annoying. In the beginning of the gens, there are typically not very many amazing new games coming out. Look how weak 2014 was. I would love to be able to catch up with all of these amazing ps4 games coming out but playing them with a pro patch in the first year or two of the ps5.
 

Bogroll

Likes moldy games
It never bothered me before on previous consoles but now they are pushing digital i think it's very likely PS and XB will go bc.
 

shpankey

not an idiot
It would be a very nice bonus, but I would be more concerned with launch and future games myself.
 

Grimmrobe

Member
I would rather not have system power and development time taken up by BC at all. I eventually buy all consoles anyway, and they're weak enough as it is, so not having BC holding back a generation of games that little bit more would be nice.
 

Cato

Banned
I don't really care about BC. In any generation there have always been so many new and great games released so I don't have that much time nor desire to play previous generation games.

For the few times I do want to play older games I just use emulators.
 

Makariel

Member
I finally want to play Demon's Souls on a PS4, 5, whatever.

Most of my games are on PC, and each time I get an upgrade for my PC some of my older games just get better (ok these days I can play most things on max details). I'm still puzzled this is simply not an option with consoles.
 
If the PS5 is able to play my PS4 library, that might sway me to pick it up. I play most games on PC now, so I'm not that interested in the next generation of consoles. I think full compatibility with old (physical) games is not realistic.
 

Toe-Knee

Member
I'm not fussed for it. I would rather not have a console that has a gimped cpu or a stupid price in order to maintain backwards compatability.

I have old consoles to play old games.
 

Blam

Member
If the PS5 does not have BC it's DOA. Xbox New will most likely have BC, and cause of it the instant library you get out of it is pretty insane.
 

Makariel

Member
I would rather not have a console that has a gimped cpu or a stupid price in order to maintain backwards compatability.
I don't quite follow this logic, considering consoles today are based on the same architecture as PCs and my current desktop CPU is in no way "gimped" just because I can run Master of Orion from the year 1993 or Deus Ex from 2000 etc. on it. The PS3 with its crazy bespoke architecture is a case of yesteryear. It doesn't seem to make too much sense for console manufacturers to stray too far from the beaten path now.
 

Toe-Knee

Member
I don't quite follow this logic, considering consoles today are based on the same architecture as PCs and my current desktop CPU is in no way "gimped" just because I can run Master of Orion from the year 1993 or Deus Ex from 2000 etc. on it. The PS3 with its crazy bespoke architecture is a case of yesteryear. It doesn't seem to make too much sense for console manufacturers to stray too far from the beaten path now.


My logic is Mark Cerny said they had to stick with jaguar on the pro in order to make sure every game worked in the same way it did on the standard ps4.

So by that logic maintaining that on ps5 they will go with jaguar again.

I know there are ways around that but if they didn't want to test the library at the point of the pro they are going to be even less likely to test it in a few years with the rate its growing.
 

Makariel

Member
My logic is Mark Cerny said they had to stick with jaguar on the pro in order to make sure every game worked in the same way it did on the standard ps4.
The Pro is not a new console, just a refresh. And it's understandable that Sony would not want to put additional ressources into making sure that all games within the same generation work fine.
I know there are ways around that but if they didn't want to test the library at the point of the pro they are going to be even less likely to test it in a few years with the rate its growing.
I see your point and I guess it might very well be that Sony would prefer not spending any money on making sure old games work. But then they could at least offer a PSNow service for previous gen games you own. Microsoft manages to offer a whole library of games spanning 3 console generations, I don't see why they would not able to add the 4th. Of course, the cynical side of me would see the obvious incentive of Sony not to offer backwards compatibility, because then they can sell another load of re-mastered and re-made older titles.
 

Xilium

Member
I used to think I cared but I don't actually. I've found that I very rarely play games from prior generations unless they are a full on remaster/remake or can be visually upgraded and played on a PC emulator. Even then, it's still not very common.

While some of my favorite games are from the past, I'm of the general opinion that games get better over time. Visually, obviously, but also from enhancements to gameplay systems and general quality of life stuff. I find that I usually just load up an older game to get my nostalgia fix for a couple hours and move on because the game ends up being not as good as I remember it (because of modern gaming advancements).

I've never not bought a system because it didn't have B/C. If it has games I like, I'll buy it. That said, B/C used to at least be a positive selling point for me that could possible push one system over another but at this point, I can't honestly say I would care.
 

verruckt93

Neo Member
Sony remastered all of it's games this gen and sold a lot why should they bring BC ?
I think sony never get BC at least until they are ahead others
 
Not important.

And I don't expect to see more of it in the future. The vast majority of consumers have shown BC isn't a factor when it comes to buying hardware. And consumers have shown they have a real appetite for remastered software (and hardware).

I would not give something away for free to an indifferent audience when I could, instead, sell it to a hungry one.
 

Mr. Grumpy

Grumpy see, Grumpy do.
Absolutely nothing wrong with the topic here but cutting and pasting threads from other forums is not acceptable, irrelevant of whoever created the threads.

After discussions with the staff we've decided that locking the thread is the best course of action.


Thank you.
 
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