PlayStation 4 Controllers Can’t Play PlayStation 5 Games, State of Play Presentation Coming this Week

PlayStation has had a busy morning, as its parent company Sony announced new details about the PlayStation 5—specifically concerning different peripherals’ compatibility with the upcoming system, as well as a new State of Play digital presentation scheduled for later this week.

The PlayStation 4’s controller, the DualShock 4, will not be compatible with PlayStation 5 games, although users can play backwards-compatible PlayStation 4 games with it. Specialty peripherals (such as racing wheels and arcade sticks), all USB and audio-jack headsets, the PS Move Motion controllers and VR Aim controller will all be compatible with PlayStation 5.

“We believe that PS5 games should take advantage of the new capabilities and features we’re bringing to the platform,” senior director of global marketing Isabelle Tomantis wrote in a PlayStation blog post. “[This includes] the features of DualSense wireless controller.”

The DualSense controller, which will be the first to abandon the DualShock line since the original PlayStation, features nearly all the same functions as the DualShock 4, with a few additions. One of the most significant is its new haptic feedback, which will allegedly allow games to have more nuanced rumble features like the Switch’s “HD rumble.” It can also offer resistance for its triggers depending on context, such as pulling a bow or shooting a gun. Not many people in the press have gotten their hands on it yet, which is especially difficult now with social distancing guidelines, but it at least sounds cool.

It’s usually standard practice for controllers to not be compatible across generations, although there is precedent for it in the PlayStation line. Between the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2, some games that didn’t require functions exclusive to the DualShock 2 could be played with the original DualShock just fine.

There won’t be any information about “hardware, business, preorders, or dates,” in this week’s State of Play presentation, but we will get 40 minutes’ worth of information concerning upcoming third-party PlayStation 4, PSVR and PlayStation 5 games this Thursday. The blog post is very keen to temper expectations, explicitly stating that no first-party PlayStation Studios titles will appear.

“Our focus is squarely on showcasing some cool upcoming games coming to the broader PlayStation ecosystem,” senior director of content communications Sid Shuman wrote in the post. “Should be fun!”

Hopefully, it will be. It airs on YouTube and Twitch at 4 p.m. EST Thursday.