A recently uncovered patent application from Sony PlayStation’s Mark Cerny indicates a potential solution to the issues surrounding PS5 backward compatibility.
The application, filed last year and updated this month, credits PS5 lead designer Cerny as an inventor and proposes broader backward compatibility through emulation of older console hardware via adjustments to processor clock speeds.
Spotted by Shaun McIlroy on Twitter, the patent is titled “backward compatibility through use of spoof clock and fine gain frequency control,” but it lacks detailed information.
It remains uncertain whether Sony is actively exploring a solution that would enable users to play games from previous PlayStation generations on the PS5 console.
Presently, the majority of PS4 game discs can be inserted into the PS5 and played without issue. There’s also the option to transfer games and game data from a PS4 to a PS5 through Wi-Fi data transfer or by using a compatible USB storage drive.
This potential upgrade might relate to the planned enhancements to the PlayStation Now streaming service, which currently lags behind Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass.
If Sony can develop a method for the PS5 hardware to run games from the PS1, PS2, and PS3 eras, it could greatly expand the range of PlayStation titles available for the PS5.
However, expectations should be tempered. As noted by Push Square in its report, Sony has been updating this patent periodically since 2015.
