The recently announced PlayStation 4 console will not have backward compatibility with PSN downloadable games, according to reports. If true, this could be a huge problem for Sony's plan to get gamers excited about the new system.

Shuhei Yoshida, Sony Worldwide Studios president, confirms in an interview with Engadget that current generation PSN titles will not be transferable to the PlayStation 4. This could pose a problem for gamers who are aiming to sell their PS3 consoles for cash to get a PS4. If they are unable to play their favorite PSN games such as Journey or Flower, they might look elsewhere.

Shuhei Yoshida states that the reason behind this is that PS3 and PS4 have two different architectures. The PS3 is based on IBMs PowerPC architecture, while the PS4 is based on AMD's Jaguar x86 architecture. However, it was stated by Sony that the company will try and allow for gamers to replay their favorite PS3 games in some form or another, such as streaming these games through the Cloud via Gaikai.

With the Microsoft Xbox 360 also based on the PowerPC platform and the Xbox 720 rumored to have similar specs to the PS4, a similar situation could arise unless Microsoft has a trick or two up its sleeve.