Backward compatibility seems to be the ace up the Xbox Series X's sleeve, but Sony is not resting on its laurels and plans to support the back catalog of PS4 games via system updates.

At least, that's what Sony said on its Icelandic PS5 website. However, it wasn't long before some sharp-eyed Reddit users spotted it. The updated webpage stated that along with "stunning graphics," PS5 users will be able to "play the back catalog of compatible PS4 games through a system update."

Sony had previously announced that the PS5 would support a huge back catalog of PS4 games, with approximately 4,000 games expected to be supported, of which the top 100 would be playable at launch. However, this website update suggests that the PS5 will need to be updated before it will be able to simply run older games on the next generation console.

In our experience with PS4 and PS3 updates, such a process can be a bit tricky and confusing, with the console repeatedly downloading and rebooting expensive patches and taking quite some time to update and prepare for action. And then there is the question of whether the first day's update will be ready by the launch of the PS5 (currently scheduled for a vague "Holiday 2020"), or whether PlayStation fans will have to wait for Sony to update it.

Not only does the Xbox Series X promise solid backward compatibility for all generations of Xbox games, Microsoft also touts that some games will be up-mixed to run at 4K, 120 frames per second, with HDR applied. Comparatively, Sony's backward compatibility appears to be quite weak at this stage.

On the flip side, Sony may instead focus on supporting PS5-exclusive games that the Xbox camp has not seen much of. Sony plans to announce a number of next-generation games in the first week of June, which may push the Xbox Series X over the edge on this front. Microsoft's early May game showcase was a bit lackluster, showing off only brief snippets of third-party games.

More details on the PS5's backward features are expected to emerge in the coming weeks, but at this point there is reason for concern.