Dream Turns Reality: PlayStation 4 Now Backward Compatible, Too

In June, at the E3 2015, Xbox One made one of the biggest announcements in the gaming industry: it enabled its latest generation Xbox One to run Xbox 360 titles, digitally and natively.

When the news of the Xbox One getting backward compatibility went out, PlayStation fans turned to Sony, asking–or rather, clamoring–for the same feature in their beloved PlayStation 4. Sony has been quite persistent, too, about saying they are not treading in Microsoft’s footsteps. It was a game they didn’t want to play. Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida even went as far as saying:

“The technology involved must be very challenging. I don’t think we will change our approach… I won’t say we’ll never do it, but it’s not an easy thing to do. If it was easy we would have done that.”

However, as early as September, there were rumors already of PlayStation 2 titles set to run on the PlayStation 4. In fact, the Inquisitr previously reported that three PlayStation 2 titles, Ape Escape 2, Twisted Metal: Black, and Dark Chronicle, were seen at the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) website rated for the PlayStation 4. At that time, we speculated that these titles are getting PS4-ready, ergo the slip in the PEGI website.

It turns out, Inquisitr and the people who put the issue under the spotlight were right. PlayStation 4 was indeed working under the shadows to enable the new-generation PlayStation 4 backward compatible. But unlike Xbox One, who targeted its more recent Xbox 360 titles, PlayStation 4 went to its box-office console: the late PlayStation 2.

PlayStation 4 now confirms that they are working at backward compatibility for their latest-gen console. Shuhei Yoshida posts at the PlayStation Blog, and unveils at the PlayStation Experience (PSX) 2015, that eight of their most classic and well-loved PlayStation 2 titles are now available for download and play at the PlayStation 4 console:

“PS2 remains the best-selling console of all time, thanks in part to the revolutionary tech built into the box, such as support for the DVD format for games and movies, a powerful graphics processor, and specialized chips for particle effects and physics. Above and beyond the technical innovations that made PS2 stand apart is the huge catalog of amazing and much loved games, such as Dark Cloud, Twisted Metal: Black, and the PS2-era classic Grand Theft Auto games, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, just to name a few. To celebrate our PS2 heritage, I’m excited to announce that starting tomorrow, you will be able to purchase and play PS2 games on your PS4 via PlayStation Store in the Americas and Europe.”

The previous report actually got one right! Twisted Metal: Black is one of the first eight PS2 classics released for PlayStation backward compatibility, according to the statement by Shuhei at the PSX 2015. While the other two speculated PS2 titles weren’t included yet, we believe that since Shuhei assures that more PlayStation 2 titles are getting ported to the PlayStation 4, they will be part of the succeeding announcements.

In addition to the PlayStation 2 titles being ported to the PlayStation 4, Sony is adding a Trophy support for each titles, all created and added in conjunction with feedback from the original creators. All titles are also “in up-rendered 1080p with the features you expect from a PS4 game including Remote Play, Live Broadcast, Share Play, Activity Feeds, and Second Screen support for game manuals with PlayStation Vita or PlayStation App.”

So as of writing, according to the PSX 2015 announcement, you can get the following PlayStation 2 titles up and working on your PlayStation 4 by purchasing them from the PlayStation Store:

Dark Cloud — $14.99
Grand Theft Auto III — $14.99
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City — $14.99
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas — $14.99
Rogue Galaxy — $14.99
The Mark of Kri — $14.99
Twisted Metal: Black — $9.99
War of the Monsters — $9.99

It is arguable that PlayStation fans will be disappointed that they have to repurchase games they already owned in the PlayStation 2 to play them again in the PlayStation 4. Do you think that PlayStation 4 is making a right move by following Xbox One’s backward compatibility feature with additional cost?

[Images via PlayStation]