Future PS4 games must also be compatible with PS5 - Sony

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-05-29-new-ps4-games-must-be-playstation-5-compatible-from-july-sony-tells-devs

Sony has told PlayStation 4 game developers that any new titles submitted for certification must also be compatible with PlayStation 5, beginning 13th July.

This means all PS4 games received by Sony for testing after the middle of that month are technically forwards compatible - playable on Sony's next-gen console - though it is up to each game's developer to ensure this is the case.

Developer documentation - released on PlayStation's internal Partner website and seen by Eurogamer - details an option developers must check to state their game has been tested for compatibility with PS5 hardware. This option was added at the end of April in a new version of Sony's PS4 software developer kit.

Sony has told developers it will contact them individually with details on how to test PS5 compatibility, in the order of their various projects' release.

Further documentation sheds light on what "compatibility" means. A game will be deemed compatible with PlayStation 5 only if its submission code runs without issues on Sony's next-gen machine, and provides the same features on PS5 as it does on PS4.

So, for example, a developer couldn't flag their game as PS5 compatible but not provide support for a certain mode on next-gen hardware.

These developer notes also detail Sony's rules for patches to existing games and remasters of previously-released titles.

If a game was originally submitted to Sony before 13th July 2020, any new patch or remaster after that date would not require PS5 compatibility, but it would be "strongly recommended".

If a game was originally submitted to Sony after 13th July 2020, any future patch or remaster to that game would need to keep PS5 compatibility. Once a game is PS5 compatible, it must stay so.

It's worth emphasising that all of this applies to games submitted to Sony after 13th July, which is not the same as anything released after that date. Submissions are generally made well in advance of release to ensure Sony's certification team can approve the game in time.

This is good news, and makes sense. It's good to bridge the current gen into the new one. And hopefully there won't be too many hiccups with backwards compatibility. Not bad I say. What say you, SW?

Good news for upgraders. Hopefully the existing library of 4000+ games on PS4 is also forward compatible.

Totally makes sense and its what Mark Cerny said. PS4 compatibility was built into the CPU of the PS5. They have already announced it will run PS4 games.

wow were have you been? did you get stuck under Mario's kart trying to hijack his brakes again lol? this has been confirmed like 2 years ago that xbox one games would so will xbox 360 and the original xbox games.

That's awful. typical sony bullying poor developers like that :P.

makes sense. I hope they have also made it as easy as possible for developers to make sure the game is compatible with the PS5 too. Hopefully its more of a testing exercise rather than needing any major changes.

Didn't a loud Sony fanny said that there is no such thing as forward compatibility and Sony would not hold back gaming with such nonsense?

no im just playing with you lol. not knowing if the series x can play xbox one games. even xbox first party will be making games for both for the next 2 years. i did the mario kart because you always down play kart games and thought you get a kick out of it lol. im with you on that im not into kart games i rather play a racing game.

This is also good news:

How can i play my PS 3 games on PS 5?

If that was the case they don't have to ask developers to make sure their games ALSO run on PS5. AMD did all the hard lifting but gotta say Sony has chimps for software engineers when they had to ask AMD to mirror the PS4 CPU/GPU design in PS5.

After July. You can tell that this was a reactionary move by Sony. Well at least it’s something though. 😅

I wish there was someway they could add universal ray tracing to these old games it would bring a whole new feel to them.