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Sony is reportedly working on PlayStation 3 emulation on PlayStation 5 for “select” titles, if a rumor is to be believed.
According to insider Shpeshal_Nick on the most recent episode of the XboxEra podcast, Sony is currently working on backwards-compatibility for “select” PS3 games on PS5. The wording makes it seem that not every single PS3 game will be included, similarly to how Microsoft did its backwards compatibility program with Xbox 360 games on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. The insider also does not know if the emulation would include new features.
“I didn’t get any more details than that. Will it have an FPS boost? I’ve got no idea…All I heard was that Sony’s working on selective PlayStation 3 backwards-compatibility.”
Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb also mentioned that he heard Sony was making its own PS3 emulator. “It’s something that I’ve heard has been in the works for quite some time. I thought it was going to get revealed earlier this year when I first heard about it. That clearly didn’t happen, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen. Maybe it does,” Grubb said during Giant Bomb’s Game Mess Mornings on June 24.
PlayStation fans have been clamoring for backwards-compatibility of PS3 games on modern consoles for a while now. While they can be streamed through PS Plus, that doesn’t provide the same experience as playing locally due to potential performance issues.
Sony has been updating its older game library on PS Plus, however. It has already added Trophies to older PS1, PS2, and PSP games in the PS Plus Classics catalogue. The most recent was Sucker Punch’s Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus for PS2.