Xbox Series X and Series S support nearly 4,000 backward-compatible games — spanning the original Xbox (2001), Xbox 360 (2005), and Xbox One (2013), with visual enhancements and frame-rate improvements where possible. The PlayStation 5 supports 99% of PS4 titles but offers no native compatibility with PS1, PS2, or PS3 games. Try inserting a PS1 disc into a PS5, and you’ll get an error message. Not a loading screen. That’s not a hardware limitation. It’s a deliberate decision. In a September 2020 interview with Famitsu, then-Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan explained why: the team prioritized integrating the PS5’s high-speed SSD and the DualSense controller over building broader backward compatibility. ‘While implementing that, we also focused our efforts on taking in the high-speed SSD and the new controller DualSense at the same time,’ he said, according to a translation by Siliconera. ‘So, unfortunately, we couldn’t reach the implementation of such compatibilities.’ That means no SSX (2002), no Need for Speed: High Stakes (1999), no PaRappa the Rapper in its original form, only remasters or re-releases, if they exist at all. A handful of older titles appear in the PlayStation Plus Classics Catalog. 168 as of October 2026, but those are subscription-only, not owned, and lack the authenticity of original releases. Xbox’s library, by contrast, is fully owned: no recurring fee required to play Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003), Bully: Scholarship Edition (2007), or Sunset Overdrive (2014). Microsoft even extended this compatibility to Windows PC. Sony’s approach leaves players choosing between convenience and ownership. Xbox’s doesn’t. The Series X remains available at $499.99 in the US. The Series S at $299.99. In India, the Series X is priced at ₹44,990, the Series S at ₹27,990. Both are in stock globally.