PlayStation 5’s paltry back-compat stance seemingly confirmed by Ubisoft

Enlarge / Were you hoping to play classic PlayStation discs on the newest PlayStation 5 console later this year? If so, we have bad news. (credit: Aurich Lawson)

On Monday, an Ubisoft FAQ page went live to walk the company's fans through games coming out on a bunch of consoles this holiday season. In doing so, the FAQ seems to have finally confirmed something Sony hadn't yet announced about its PlayStation 5 console: its backward-compatibility limitations.

When digging through Ubisoft's latest American FAQ page series, most of the language hinges on what appears to be a seamless transition for purchased software from Xbox One to Xbox Series X or from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5. (This will apply to previously announced cross-generational software like Watch Dogs Legion and Assassin's Creed Valhalla.) One new page, however, emerged from the company's Australian help site with a clarification about PS4 and PS5 multiplayer connectivity, and it added a surprising detail:

PlayStation 4 players will be able to join multiplayer games with PlayStation 5 players. Backwards compatibility will be available for supported PlayStation 4 titles, but will not be possible for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, or PlayStation games.

[Update: Shortly before this article's publication, the quoted text was removed from the Ubisoft page in question, though it remained live for hours while PlayStation fans began sharing it far and wide.]

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