Sony's Jim Ryan comments on backwards compatibility: "why would anybody play this?"

[Dr. Pezus]

Of course its not popular in the real world when you can simply put in the disc on a PC and play the game in a higher def over paying $20 for a HD uplift that doesnt even compare to emulation on PC with "Trophy" support lol.

Like I said, this half assed b/c  right now is nothing compared to true b/c during the PS2 era.

I mean b/c on PS2, PS3, XB, Nintendo stuff is not as popular I bet as one might think. Kerotan talked about a 2% number but I'm not sure where he got it, but if it's close to that number I can see why they would rather choose to radically change the hardware and keep the price down than please the vocal few

[BasilZero]

I mean b/c on PS2, PS3, XB, Nintendo stuff is not as popular I bet as one might think. Kerotan talked about a 2% number but I'm not sure where he got it, but if it's close to that number I can see why they would rather choose to radically change the hardware and keep the price down than please the vocal few

b/c is popular, its just not used all the time.

Like for an example, I have a PS3, PS4, 3DS, WiiU and two devices capable of playing PC games.

I havent touched my PS4 in over 7 months because I was mainly playing 3DS, WiiU , PS3 and PC prior to those months - I started playing it again because I bought FFXV and will continue playing it when I start on Persona 5 and when I get FFXII TZA next month. My PS3 and 3DS are on the back burner while I'm mainly playing on PC, PS4 and my Nintendo DSLite which I bought back in 2007.

Just because I havent touched my PS4 in that time frame, doesnt mean I hate my PS4 or dont care about it. Its just I had other games or priorities just like majority of people who are interested in b/c but dont always play b/c games all the time.


Those numbers they throw, I dont think they are completely accurate or as accurate as they make them out to be.  Where are they getting those %? Overall or over a certain period? They wont reveal that info obviously.

And even if that is the reason why they decided to take off b/c, I think the bigger reason why any company would take out b/c would be the fact that they can easily get people to re-buy games. Otherwise why else do you think they keep pushing legacy platform games in multiple ways? PS2 Classics on PS4, PSNow, etc.

In the end, for a corporation, its best to limit people from having to transfer a game from one platform to the next and have them charge for a game again hence why you see remasters, enhanced ports and re-releases digitally.


Doesnt matter to me since Emulation exists :p

[the-pi-guy]

Backwards compatibility is a feature that 50% of users have used, but it only makes up about 1.5% of the time.  That 2% is pretty close.  At least on Xbox One. 

So it's very popular, it just isn't use very often. 

[Legend]

Source of that number

Ars: Xbox One users largely ignore backward-compatible Xbox 360 games - NeoGAF

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/...ne-usage-time/

Our analysis used a third-party API to randomly sample usage data from nearly one million active Xbox One Gamertags over a period of nearly five months starting last September (read the introductory piece for much more about the data and methodology). In the end, only about 1.5 percent of the more than 1.65 billion minutes of Xbox One usage time we tracked was spent on the 300+ backward-compatible Xbox 360 games, in aggregate. That translates to an average of just 23.9 minutes per sampled active Xbox One user spent on Xbox 360 games out of 1,526 average minutes of Xbox One usage during the sampling period. Things don't look better for backward compatibility when you look at individual games. The most popular backward-compatible title in our sample, Call of Duty: Black Ops, was played by three or four out of every 1,000 active Xbox Live users, which is actually competitive with some of the most popular Xbox One titles. Usage rates for less-popular games drop off steeply from there, though, and no other backward-compatible title even ranks in the top 100 most popular Xbox One apps in terms of total unique users.

 

I still say pursuing backward compatibility is worthwhile and important, though, from a preservation standpoint. Old hardware won't last forever.
 

[Kerotan]

He made that comment in relation to GT 1 and 2. And he's absolutely right.  His other point about BC being highly requested and rarely used is also very accurate.

[Raven]

These comments by Jim Ryan have received a little too much attention.

[Aura7541]

The study from Ars Technica kinda supports the notion that BC is most effective when a console first launches. At the beginning of the lifecycle, its library is small. In contrast, the library of the previous console is significantly larger. As a result, the amount of time spent on BC games will be far greater than just 1.5% due to the large disparity of size between the console's actual library and BC library. However, as time goes on, more games will be developed for the current gen console and the current gen library will take up more time.

[Legend]

These comments by Jim Ryan have received a little too much attention.

Yeah that's sure true. It's not a bad thing to say, just frustrating since it's a hotly requested feature.

[Kerotan]

Yeah that's sure true. It's not a bad thing to say, just frustrating since it's a hotly requested feature.

They got too much attention because his comments regarding gran turismo 1 and 2 were made look like they were about every BC game.  Click bait at its finest.

[the-pi-guy]

They got too much attention because his comments regarding gran turismo 1 and 2 were made look like they were about every BC game.  Click bait at its finest.

He was using GT 1 and GT 2 as examples of why BC (of every game) wasn't what he wanted.  So, no it's not really clickbait.  

[Kerotan]

He was using GT 1 and GT 2 as examples of why BC (of every game) wasn't what he wanted.  So, no it's not really clickbait.  

No he was using it to prove his point that BC is highly requested but barely played so he made that comment regarding games that really backed up his point.  

Absolute clickbait.

[the-pi-guy]

No he was using it to prove his point that BC is highly requested but barely played so he made that comment regarding games that really backed up his point.  

Absolute clickbait.

How bad GT 1 and GT 2 look, doesn't give any evidence to BC being high requested or barely played.  So that doesn't make any sense...  


"When we've dabbled with backwards compatibility, I can say it is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much," says Ryan. "That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games, and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?"

1.)  BC is much requested, but not used much.  
2A.) That and - basically meaning "on top of that", "additionally", "another reason"
2B.)  The PS1 and PS2 games, they looked ancient, why would anybody play this.  

So, he's saying it's much requested but not used much, additionally that (GT) PS1 and PS2 games look ancient, why would anyone play them?

He's saying older games look bad, why would anyone play them.

[Legend]

I want to play GT3 again...

[Kerotan]

How bad GT 1 and GT 2 look, doesn't give any evidence to BC being high requested or barely played.  So that doesn't make any sense...  


"When we've dabbled with backwards compatibility, I can say it is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much," says Ryan. "That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games, and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?"

1.)  BC is much requested, but not used much.  
2A.) That and - basically meaning "on top of that", "additionally", "another reason"
2B.)  The PS1 and PS2 games, they looked ancient, why would anybody play this.  

So, he's saying it's much requested but not used much, additionally that (GT) PS1 and PS2 games look ancient, why would anyone play them?

He's saying older games look bad, why would anyone play them.

That's my point.  He never said nobody wants to play gt3 or gt4. He said GT 1 and 2 because they are crud by today's standard.  He's using one end of the BC spectrum to prove his point and he's dead right.

[darkknightkryta]

That's my point.  He never said nobody wants to play gt3 or gt4. He said GT 1 and 2 because they are crud by today's standard.  He's using one end of the BC spectrum to prove his point and he's dead right.

By that reasoning SNES titles wouldn't be going for 100s of dollars.  There is a market for BC.  Hell I'm playing a PS2 game right now and I go back to PSX games every now and then.  Hell Nintendo's entire online strategy relies on SNES titles.