Sony Boss Talks PS5 Games Coming To PS4: "No One Should Be Disappointed"

Sony boss Jim Ryan has commented on the news that a number of PlayStation 5 games will also be released on PlayStation 4. Speaking to The Washington Post, Ryan said releasing titles like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon Forbidden West on both PS5 and PS4 is all about giving people a choice for where they want to buy their games.

"No one should be disappointed," Ryan told the publication. "The PS5 versions of those games are built from the ground up to take advantage of the PS5 feature set, and we have an upgrade path for PS4 users to get the PS5 versions for free. It's about people having choice. I'm really quite pleased about the situation."

Some might have been surprised when Sony announced the cross-gen strategy for those games. After all, Ryan said earlier this year that Sony planned to release PS5 games at launch that would be exclusive to the platform because the company wants to create content that can "really only be enjoyed on PS5." The cross-gen nature of these games was only revealed after the latest PS5 showcase event, not during it.

The PS4 has been enormously successful for Sony, selling more than 100 million systems to date. Ryan said Sony will continue to support the console for the next three or four years, and that's part of the reason why Sony's big first-party games are also coming to the PS4. "Many will transition to PS5, we hope if we do our job well, but tens of millions will still be engaged with the PS4," he said.

In releasing these marquee titles across generations, Sony is taking a similar approach to Microsoft, which plans to release its big games for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said forcing people to buy new hardware is against what the spirit of gaming is all about.

If you want to get your hands on a PS5 at launch, you'll want to check out GameSpot's PS5 preorder guide--the system is quickly selling out in presales. Sony has also clarified more details on the PS5's backwards compatibility feature, stating that 99% of PS4 games will be playable on the new machine.