If you got your hands on a brand new one PlayStation 5 Then you probably also have a PlayStation 4 with a certain description – and it is not difficult to transfer your PS4 games to your new PS5. You can start playing on your new console almost immediately, but here we explain the steps you need to take first.
A first note on backward compatibility: Sony says the “vast majority” of PS4 games will work on the PS5, and “select” games will benefit from faster or smoother frame rates. At the same time, Sony also admits that you may experience “errors or unexpected behavior” when playing PS4 games on the PS5.
In terms of controllers, you can use the PS4 DualShock or the PS5 DualSense to play your PS4 titles on the PlayStation 5, depending on what you’re most comfortable with (you can’t use your old DualShock with your brand new PS5 games, though) .
When it comes to PlayStation VR it’s a bit more complicated. The vast majority of games will work, but you also have to go from your PS4 over your PlayStation Camera and apply for it a free camera adapter for the PS5 from Sony.
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For PS4 games purchased on disc, you can insert the same disc into your PS5 (unless the the digital edition), go to it Spell screen and get started, although you may need to download an update first. In some cases (like with No Man’s Sky, which we’ve shown in a screenshot on this page), you get a free PS5 update to download and install. For digital titles, you can re-download them on your PS5 from the Game Library section under games.
Another option that may be faster depending on how many games you have is to move your PS4 games to your PS5 on an external hard drive: it’s probably a more attractive method if you already have a lot of titles stored on an external one disk on your old console, or you don’t want to take up a lot of disk space on your new console with old games, or maybe both.
If you don’t already have an external hard drive installed on your PS4, go to once connected Settings, Appliances, and USB storage devices: Select the station and choose Format as extended storage and confirm your choice. Games will then be installed on the external drive by default. You can change this by going to Settings thereafter Storage, Selecting System storageand press the Options button.
You can move games from the internal PS4 storage to your external hard drive, ready to be played on the PS5, by going to Settings and Storagethen select System storage and Applications. Choose your game, tap Options, then choose Go to extended storage. Select the games you want to move and choose Action.
Once that’s done, simply plug the external hard drive into a USB port on the back of the PlayStation 5, and the PS4 titles will appear when you go to the Game Library page below Spell (when it comes to disc-based games, you still need the disc too). For many users, that’s the quickest and easiest way to get started with older PS4 games.
You can also use your local network to transfer titles between PS4 and PS5. This is suggested during the PlayStation 5 installation process, but you can do it afterwards as well: You must be signed in to the same Wi-Fi network and PlayStation account on both consoles to begin with, and then you must Settings on your PS5 and choose System, System software and Data transfer. To speed up the process significantly, you can connect your consoles with an Ethernet cable.
And last but not least, there is saved game data – it can be moved using the data transfer process we just described, either when you first set up your PlayStation 5 or later. Your saved data can also be synchronized via the (PlayStation Plus) cloud or an external USB drive: choose Settings, Application data management, Saved data in system storage, and then either Upload to online storage or Copy to USB storage device on the PS4 to do this.
Go back on the PS5, after signing up to PlayStation Plus or plugging in the USB storage device, go to Settings, Saved data and game / app settings, and then Saved data (PS4) to see the cloud and local options. Most of the PS4 saved data should work on the PS5, although this is ultimately at the discretion of the game developer – save data may not transfer even if the game itself works.