Sony PlayStation 5 is all set to play PS1, PS2 and PS3 games, according to this patent

The Sony PlayStation 5 is set to be the ultimate in next-gen console gaming, but still one of the most requested features of the new console is backwards compatibility.

While everyone is eager to play the best PS5 games in stunning 4K - if we've already bought all the PlayStations before, can we finally consign them to the loft and just have one machine to rule them all?

Sony is being a little coy about this - it has revealed that there will definitely be backwards compatibility. Mark Cerny, PlayStation’s ‘lead system architect’, said it was treated as a key need throughout the design of the new hardware back in March.

And now we might have more of an idea of how this will work. According to a Twitter user called @renka_schedule (via The Next Web and translated from Japanese) there is a patent doing the rounds that allows PSOne, PS2 and PS3 games to be playable through the cloud, available on a virtual console via the PS5.

This makes a lot of sense and means that Sony hasn't had to do anything from a hardware perspective to make sure the console can accept old discs. Quite how Sony will know which games you have already purchased on these consoles still isn't clear, though.

It may well be that this becomes part of a subscription model or one-off payment where you can play classic PlayStation games - although that isn't really backwards compatibility, more allowing you to play a roster of retro PlayStation games through the console.

Also, the image that cropped up on screen while Cerny was doing his big PS5 talk back in March had no mention of PSOne games, instead showing the logo for PS3 and PS2 games.

Until we get confirmation, head to our best PS1 games guide and best PS2 games list to remember the greats that you may well get to play again soon.

• Here are all the PS5 details you need to know about.