Microsoft is often praised for how it has implemented a good support for backwards compatibility for both games, peripherals and controllers. But before Microsoft confirmed backwards compatibility for Xbox Series X, Sony had already done the same thing for PlayStation 5. But we have to say, it's been a somewhat mixed message.
Judging from the PlayStation 5 designer Mark Cerny's words back in April, only about 100 games would be backwards compatible at the PlayStation 5 launch. That seems to have been a major misconception though and recently, the PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has said that about 99% of the games from PlayStation 4 will work with PlayStation 5 - although not necessarily at launch.
While we are still waiting for Sony to clear things up, a data miner has found some really interesting nuggets regarding all this via the PlayStation Store. All the findings has been shared on Reddit, and among them are these messages seemingly intended to be shown on the store pages:
• "playing PS4 games on PS5, some functionalities available on PS4 may not be available. See www.playstation.com/ps5-backwards-compatibility for more details." (dead link, currently)
• "This PS4 game isn't supported with your PS5's current system software. We're continuing to make more PS4 games playable on PS5. Update your PS5, and then try playing the game."
• "PS5 boost mode enabled"
Basically, it seems like some games will be supported, but not all features. Other PlayStation 4 games won't work at all, while other will have the boost mode with enhancements.
Another thing was also later found in the code for the German PlayStation Store, as noted on Resetera:
<"msgid_experience_unexpected_game_behavior":"Beim Spielen dieses PS4-Spiels auf einer PS5-Konsole kann unerwartetes Verhalten auftreten."
This means that "unexpected behavior may occur when playing this PS4 game on PS5 console." Basically that some games will be playable but might not function that well. With less than two months left until the PlayStation 5 release, we expect Sony to spill the beans very soon for everything regarding backwards compatibility.