KEY POINTS

  • Sony is reportedly planning to launch a new service
  • The service would introduce PS5 backward compatibility support to PS3, PS2 and PS1 games
  • Sony has not yet said anything related to the service

Multiple last-gen video games have recently surfaced on the PS5 store, triggering speculations that Sony might shortly unveil PlayStation 3 backward compatibility on PS5.

It appears that a lot of things have been going on with PlayStation at the moment. A few days ago, the Japanese gaming giant reportedly told retailers to no longer promote PS Now. Now, it looks like the company's approach to backward compatibility is changing as well.

Twitter user Jordan Middler shared an image showing the prices of the PS3 game "Dead or Alive" on the PS5 PlayStation store. PlayStation does not normally do this because these games are not available.

Sony, which unveiled its new PlayStation 5 online last week, is skipping TGS altogether this year
Sony, which unveiled its new PlayStation 5 online last week, is skipping TGS altogether this year AFP / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU

Some fans believe it could be just an error but it comes at a weird time for the company considering that rumors about PS1, PS2 and PS3 getting backward compatibility support on PS5 are rife online. Interestingly, this change is not visible to everyone and it is not on the web version, further fanning the flame of speculations.

Some fans believe Sony is in the middle of implementing the feature at the moment and is preparing to announce some kind of backward compatibility service. This belief stemmed from a recently discovered patent filed by PlayStation system architect Mark Cerny, titled "backward compatibility through the use of spoof clock and fine grain frequency control."

The patent essentially led many fans to speculate that Sony has designed a solution for older titles to be playable on PS5. Apart from the patent, Bloomberg revealed in December that PlayStation will soon launch an Xbox Game Pass counterpart service.

The new service is reportedly under the code name Spartacus and will combine PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus services. Moreover, the service is expected to debut for both PlayStation 4 and PS5 this spring, according to a new report from Vide Games Chronicle.

While these leaks are interesting, they are not yet official. Fans should temper their expectations and take these details as highly speculative at this stage.

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