PS5: have we finally discovered enhanced backwards compatibility?

There is about a month and a half left until PS5 arrives in Italy. The next-generation console from Sony Interactive Entertainment is highly anticipated by gamers, although in reality there are many doubts that the Japanese company does not seem ready to dispel yet. An example is the operation of "enhanced backward compatibility", known as PS5 boost mode.

This is a detail that Microsoft has long advertised with Xbox Series X, which will be able to increase resolution, frame rate and introduce HDR even in titles that basically don't support it. All this has been confirmed by the recent US previews, of which we have illustrated every detail. As for PS5, however, we find ourselves discovering new details through a leak coming from the source code of the checkout.playstation.com/error# page.

The information there has been gathered on Reddit in a dedicated thread and allows us to discover that the "enhanced backward compatibility" of PS5, or "PS5 boost mode", will actually be present in the console, but perhaps it will not support every single game. The exact effect of this boost mode is not known, but considering the term (and even its mere existence) it is easy to assume that we can expect improved performance.

Even normal backward compatibility is not guaranteed in every game: there is in fact the error message “This PS4 game is not supported with the current system software”. But the most interesting part is related to the fact that Sony says that “We will continue to make more PS4 games playable via PS5. Update your PS5 and then try running the game again. " Similar to what Microsoft did with Xbox One, therefore, backward compatibility could be expanded over time.

Sony has already stated that 99% of PS4 games already work in backward compatibility, so it is possible that the above error is related to very few titles that will never be supported (trivially, think of online games only with servers now closed). It is not even clear if "PS5 boost mode" will be the official name.

This leak, at least, gives us some more clues on the subject. Hopefully Sony will release official details as soon as possible. Tell us, what do you think of the situation?

You can find PlayStation 5 on Amazon Italy.