Sony: 'PS2 compatibility is off the table'

Sony has explained why PS2 backwards compatibility was left out of the PS3 Slim.

The firm's director of marketing John Kollar said that only a fraction of users want to play PS2 games on the system.

"Backwards compatibility is off the table," he told Kotaku at gamescom 2009.

"Now that we're at a point where we're three years into the life-cycle of the PS3, and there are so many PS3 disc-based games that are available that we think, and noticed this from our research, that most consumers that are purchasing [it for] PS3 games as a primary [reason]."

"And it's not just like 50% or 60%," he continued. "It's well into the 80% or 90% range who are purchasing it for PS3 [games]."

He added that he believes PS2 owners will be looking to upgrade to the system, saying: "We do know that there are next gen consumers wanting to come over the PS3. Most of those are consumers who have not utilised their PS2 for a little while and they're ready to jump into the PlayStation 3."

Sony announced a slim version of the PS3 at their press conference at gamescom 2009.