A NEXT-GEN LEAP MEANS A CROSS-GEN PERIOD. IS SONY RIGHT TO ANNOUNCE PS4 VERSIONS OF ITS MOSTANTICIPATED PS5 GAMES?

This Christmas more than ever we all deserve a little Spidey

Back in July we still didn’t know all that much about our favourite white-andblack curvy console. We did, however, get a glimpse of the DualSense and Astro’s Playroom during Summer Games Fest, and PlayStation’s Head Of Worldwide Marketing and Consumer Experience, Eric Lempel, made a firm statement: “We believe in generations.”

There’s no arguing that PS5 isn’t a large generational step forward when you peel away its curvaceous exterior. When you start getting into the nitty-gritty of clock speeds and hammering out the details of what makes the custom SSD special, you can see there’s a lot to get excited about. But Lempel’s statement seemed to send the message that because of those technical evolutions, Sony’s first-party games would be committed to the new platform.

‘Seemed’ is the keyword there, because now, nearing PlayStation 5’s launch day in the UK, some of Sony’s biggest titles, once thought to be exclusive to the new console, have turned out to not be so exclusive after all. Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and (most surprisingly) Horizon Forbidden West are all going to be coming to PS4 as well. The question is: should PS5-diehards-to-be find this concerning?

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The answer is no. For one thing, the concept of cross-generation gaming – starting on one platform and then continuing on the other (as has been confirmed for Miles Morales at the very least) – is itself perfectly in step with the very philosophy of PlayStation 5. It’s about getting rid of the friction between player and game: taking an axe to load times, speeding up booting, using slicker menus that take you out of the action less. What’s more next-gen than not having to use next-gen? Or, to be more specific, than having the option to transition smoothly to PS5 at your own speed.

There’s also the PS5-sized elephant in the room… or rather the lack thereof. Only so many people are going to be able to nab the two-tone machine on day one.

Pre-orders have been limited, and even with the digital edition price tag being lower than expected, it’s a pricey box that not everyone can afford at launch. This way, nobody has to miss out on getting started with some of their most anticipated games, and no PS4 owners have to miss out on their Spidey fix this Christmas. Given you get a free game upgrade, you’re not even locking yourself out of having that fun on the next-gen console, whether you get your PS5 a year from launch or just a couple of weeks after it. It leaves the choice to you, and more choice is always a great thing. Ultimately it does mean the first-party lineup is somewhat lacking in exclusives at a glance. Can you even consider Demon’s Souls exclusive when it’s a remake of a PS3 game? Really only Astro’s Playroom and Godfall are console exclusives. But that’s not the whole story. Developers have been clear – the likes of Miles Morales have been developed first for PS5. That platform’s where it will shine, and take advantage of the new tech as intended. Cross-gen releases in the past have proved as much (remember the PS3 version of Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor?) There’s enough in all of these cross-gen games to make it more than worthwhile to experience them on PS5 when you can. But the option to choose when that is is something we’ll never complain about.