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PS5 games will be region-free

Sony cleared up details about 1440p output, PlayStation Now and much more in an FAQ.

Aaron Souppouris/Engadget

It’s finally launch week for the new generation of consoles and Sony has cleared up a ton of lingering questions about the PlayStation 5 in an exhaustive FAQ. It covered a lot of ground but perhaps the biggest takeaway is that PS5 games will be region-free. So, you won’t have to worry about whether games you import from another country will run on your new, oddly-shaped console. PlayStation 4 games were also region-free.

It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that the PS5 will support the PlayStation Now service. Although the PS5 won’t run PS3, PS2 or original PlayStation game discs, at least there’s still a way for you to dive back into a library of older games on the console.

Sony has long claimed the vast majority of PlayStation 4 games will work on PS5 with very few exceptions. Some Ubisoft games may not run on the console either, but the details are unclear.

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Cross-generation multiplayer will work by default. “Whether you’re playing a multiplayer PS4 game on your PS4 or PS5 (via backward compatibility), you will be able to play with other players on either console for the same game,” Sony wrote. It’s up to developers whether a PS5-specific version of their game will allow you to play with a friend who has the PS4 version of it.

As for PlayStation Plus, Sony confirmed you’ll still get two free PS4 games per month for the foreseeable future. “It is our goal to add PS5 games regularly to the monthly games lineup,” the company said. PS Plus subscribers who have a PS5 will be able to claim Bugsnax for free starting this week. There’s also a number of PS4 classics you can claim through the PlayStation Plus Collection.

There won’t be any other color schemes for the console at launch, but variants of the DualSense controller will eventually be available. You can’t expand the internal SSD storage at launch — you’ll have to wait for a software update that adds support for certain M.2 SSD drives — though you can run PS4 games from an external USB drive, and “explorations” are under way for using USB drives as cold storage for PS5 games.

Although the PS5 will eventually be able to output resolutions at up to 8K, it doesn’t support 1440p, which might come as a disappointment if you have a 1440p monitor. Those looking to put console at the center of their home theater should note that its HDR support is limited to HDR10 — no Dolby Vision or HDR10+ here, while on the audio side it’s missing Dolby Atmos.

The PS5 won’t have a dedicated web browser either, which may not be a huge blow considering how terrible the browser was on PS3 and PS4.

The FAQ is well worth reading if you’re interested in the PS5. It covers a vast range of other topics, including the specs, Remote Play and compatible accessories.