Two Prince of Persia PlayStation 3 games appeared on the PlayStation 5 Store last week, causing backwards compatibility rumours to resurface.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and The Two Thrones, were among other PS3 titles to briefly appear on the PS5 store with individual purchase prices on 16 January.
The games weren’t purchasable meaning this could’ve been a store error, however, PS3 titles usually only direct users to the PlayStation Now versions of the games.
Dead Or Alive 5 doesn’t feature on the subscription but was listed at £7.99, causing renewed speculation that the PlayStation 5’s backwards compatibility will extend beyond PS4 games.
This follows the discovery of a patent registered by PS5 system architect Mark Cerny titled “backward compatibility through the use of spoof clock and fine grain frequency control”.
The patent has led many to believe Sony has overcome issues preventing games from generations prior to the PS4 being available on the console.
It also comes following reports PlayStation is developing an Xbox Game Pass competitor codenamed “Spartacus”.
This service will reportedly offer a three-tiered service which members can pay a monthly fee to access.
It’s claimed the first tier will be similar to PlayStation Plus, offering online play and free monthly titles, while the second will provide a large catalogue of games, reminiscent of Microsoft’s Game Pass.
The third tier will reportedly include extended demos, game streaming, and access to a larger library featuring PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP games.
This is despite Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan saying last September that a subscription model similar to Games Pass wouldn’t work for PlayStation.
He said: “We are not going to go down the road of putting new release titles into a subscription model.
“These games cost many millions of dollars, well over $100 million, to develop. We just don’t see that as sustainable.”
Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia first appeared on the Apple II in 1989 and was eventually ported to the SNES, among other platforms.
Released in 2010, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is the latest non-remake console game in the franchise.
A film adaptation of Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time premiered the same year.
Development of a The Sands Of Time remake is underway, however, a release date hasn’t been given.
Words by Julius Lawless-Master
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