PS5 Rumor Hints Major PS Now Refresh to Power Backward Compatibility

• Much confusion still surrounds the backward compatibility capabilities of the PS5, chiefly whether it will extend beyond PS4 games.
• A new rumor suggests an updated PS Now will power PS1, PS2, and PS3 games on the next-gen console.
• Sony will allegedly focus heavily on this new feature during its next PS5 showcase.

According to a new rumor, PS5 backward compatibility beyond PS4 games may be powered an updated version of PS Now.

While Ubisoft’s support page gaffe last week may have re-ignited hopes that the PS5’s backward compatibility capabilities may extend beyond PS4 games, Sony continues to remain tight-lipped, neither willing to squash or confirm grapevine rumblings, leaving fans to speculate and glean what information they can.

The latest of which suggests the PS5’s backward compatibility beyond PS4 games may not be fueled by the console’s beefy hardware, but instead, depend on an updated version of Sony’s PS Now game streaming subscription service.

New PS Now For PS5

According to a new post extracted from the bowels of the forum of questionable repute, 4chan , a ‘new’ PS Now is in the works and will act as the PS5’s backward compatibility solution for Sony’s previous trio of consoles. This revamped PS Now will allegedly also feature new filtering technology allowing the upscale of specific games allied to the existing tri-linear texture filtering for PS1 and PS2 games.

The rumor also suggests Sony will extend its PS Now cloud operation to a new provider, Microsoft’s Azure network of data centers, pushing streaming to software compression encoder H.265. The jump will reportedly result in better picture quality and 1080p streaming for PS4 games on PS5.

Earlier this year, Sony and Microsoft announced they were teaming up to develop cloud gaming and streaming solutions , allowing the PlayStation parent company to use Azure to support its streaming efforts. A revamped PS Now as described in the leak could conceivably be the first sign of the fruits of this partnership.

Sony’s Next Showcase

The rumor throws out a few other choice tidbits, notably that PS Now is more of a focus for Sony than ever before, and the company is planning to bundle PS Plus and PS Now together for $14.99 (presumably, a month – the post doesn’t specify a subscription time frame).

The new PS Now for PS5 will ostensibly take center stage during Sony’s next next-gen showcase, with the company detailing how the streaming service integrates into the console’s UI and a new PS Now App for remote play.

The rumor’s source isn’t the most reliable by any stretch of the imagination, and we’d be remiss not to suggest a hefty dose of skepticism when scrutinizing this one. It also fails to answer crucial questions, notably whether this PS Now backward compatibility solution will extend to all PS1, PS2, and PS3 games, or will only allow access to a limited library on PS5 as is already the case as the streaming service exists today.