Rumour: Sony's Still Working on PS3 Emulation for PS5

They could talk to the RPCS3 guys. I’m already playing GT5, Killzone 2 and Resistance on my Ally. Anyway, PS3 had a vault of fantastic games that deserve to be played even today.

I would fire up Binary Domain so fast.

Happy for the guys who had the ps3 at the time. The game did like to play is GTA4.

I've had the pleasure of owning every Playstation so far but for whatever reason, PS3 was my least favourite.

I actually preferred my Xbox 360

Feel so dirty admitting that

@Splat What a awsome game romancing a certain sniper was so cool to do. 😅

That generation had so much on offer. It's why I recently hooked my PS3 back up to my main TV and also why Xbox backwards compatibility has been an absolute key feature for me.

Believe it when I see it. I have a lot of digital PS3 games trapped.

@Splat Even with how cheesy that game is. I boot it up on my pc at least once a year.

I've been on this ride before...

Shotgun blast reporting once again.

@gollumb82 I would like to ask the RPCS3 team, if they tried to acquire a dev PS5 and make the PS3 emulator work the best they can within those specs. It could provide some insight of what Sony could achieve.

@Splat Amazing game! I've always thought it deserved a sequel. I replayed it about a year ago on my Xbox and it still holds up well today.

I hate this I don't want to get my hopes up thinking that my Resistance games, Sly Collection, Ratchet Collection, God Of War Collection and Ascension, Dragon Age Origins, Oblivion etc might finally be released from PS3 pergatory😭😭😭

even if it turns out to be true, if the ps1/ps2 re-releases (on ps5) are any indication, we would be drip fed the odd release or two every several months and it would be yet another disappointment. has everyone thrown away their ps3's and need to resort to such shameful practices? stop throwing away your old gaming hardware, guys!

@lacerz @lacerz me too and imagine if these came to life overnight. God bless you Sony

@Splat the pc release of binary domain is fine. ps3 emulation would be more valuable when it comes to the exclusive titles still trapped on there, such as mgs 4, various armored core games, etc.

Talking/working with emulator devs won't change much. The team responsible for bringing these PS1/2/PSP games to PS4/PS5 is built by former PCSX2 folks.

I do believe that Sony is working on some type of PS3 emulation, but it will be exactly how it has worked with the classics so far: Just a few games per month with minimal/non-existent improvements.

You'll are always the last news outlets to report on things. I read this like two days ago.

Make it happen Sony! Playing PS3 on the cloud is not good enough (for now). If the RPCS3 guys can get most of the PS3 Library working perfectly on hardware much weaker than the PS5 then Sony should be able to.

The first few years of PS3 sure were rough

They can’t even get Ps1 and 2 emulation automatic enough to push through more than a couple of games a month. And from the bare bones nature of them I have very little faith Sony would have the skill or interest in this much more difficult endeavour.

If they bring emulation to the PS5, I might get a PS5, if they let me download all the PS3 games I own. I remember buying a few digital PS3 games around the time I got a PS4, so I never got around to playing them.

I get the nostalgic value but just take some of those games like Nintendo is doing, along with everyone and his brother, and polish and shine them up for the PS5. Games you played on PS3 for hours and hours seem like a blast from the past, until you fire them up and none of the QoL or other more modern stuff is there.

Presumably this doesn't necessarily mean for people to access their libraries? Could be ps plus only. Is there any way of checking what I have in my ps3 library without an actual ps3 at the moment? My memory is hazy

Splinter Cell Blacklist would be the first game I would get, unbelievable that Ubisoft is not making new Splinter Cell games and yes I know they are doing a remake of the first one

As great as this would be, I doubt the PS5 has enough power overhead to run PS3 games with enhanced resolution or frame rate. I would much prefer it if they released remastered collections of that legendary first-party library (Resistance, Killzone, Infamous, Ratchet, Motorstorm, God of War, etc.) similar to what they did on PS3 with their PS2 library. Though, of course, emulation is better than nothing.

@Ken_Kaniff Jeff Grubb only just commented on this today. We felt the rumours were too shaky to report on before that.

Would be interested if I could put the disc in and download the game like on Xbox

Still got a 2503 Slim PS3 after the fatty popped its clogs. Still playing Worms 2: Armageddon and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift on the old, old stager.

To me, emulation would be nice (if the PS5 can hack it?) but we need some of those PS3 IPs being brought up to date:

1, Motorstorm (unlikely due to Evolution being no more - thanks Sony)
2. ModNation Racers (unlikely due to United Front being no more though San Diego, who helped with the original & Road Trip, could step in) and of course
3. LBP 1 & 2 (MM still exist but the servers for all LBP versions don't exist any more - just after MM uploaded all their textures and objects - again, thanks Sony)

Even if they get it working...I wouldn't hold my breath until PS6

If we never started getting PS1, PS2, and PSP games back I'd have never believed it was going to happen. I really hope it happens someday. Thankfully my PS3 is still alive and kicking but who is to say for how long?

The PS3 generation is my favorite PS generation because that was when Sony was at their lowest in terms of success at launch. They had to claw their way out of probably the toughest times PS has ever faced and in the process came out with what I'd argue is some of games PS has ever had. I would love to play them again and not depend on my aging PS3 to do it.

I have absolutely zero faith in Sony. Their libraries for PS1, PSP and PS2 are pretty terrible with massive gaps, and the emulation is shoddy at best.

@Dudeitsme Funny you should say that as I unboxed mine this afternoon to play GTA4 again. Have been enjoying San Andreas through the extra catalogue and wanted another go on what is my favourite entry in the series.

@Porco Well, if it worked with discs that would be the really amazing thing.

PS3 machine is cheap right now.
Not to mention the PS3 games are also cheap today.
I still hunting cheap PS3 games, the unpopular games like PS3 move games, cartoon franchise games, etc.

Another top quality guess from Jeff "source: my ass" Grubb

Next he'll be telling us Sony are working on a PS6

@Ken_Kaniff Better to be a tad late and correct than first and often wrong.

@Rainbowjames Not really, unfortunately. The best they offer is the option to view your account transaction history from the PS website. It's extremely unintuitive as it's a list full of entries of "Wallet funding" and "Product purchase", and you need to select them one at a time to expand them to see what was purchased. Even more frustrating is how every time you expand a record and then go back to the list, it goes back to the top of the list and you need scroll back to where you were. There is a chrome extension that allowed exporting the list, but it doesn't work anymore.

@__jamiie
Totally off subject.
If you are single console owner this generation and including Switch. This has to be the most bemused generation to ever try and own just one console.
I’m saying this because they all seem to have some advantages and some disadvantages and this generation no individual console has really been a superstar.
I have in the past settled for owning one console however but have swapped during the generation sometimes, but this generation is just not settled after a good few years into any real rhythm or any particular console been a total stand out.

Emulation alone isnt enough. Its a good start but there should be a fps and resolution boost from the get go. Currently playing sly1 and thst game bot being hd really hurts my eyes man. If xbox can do it, why cant sony?

@Member_the_game you should haha

@Splat Such an underrated game. I wish Sega had remastered that one alongside Vanquish

@ShogunRok Fair enough. My apologies.

@Member_the_game No shame mate, the 360 had a great library and was the better system for the first couple of years at least...

My ps3 disk drive just crapped...it's not a hateful repair but also not an easy one (for me anyways). If this were true and it blankets sww studios offerings that would be killer.

@OldGamer999 I completely agree. Each system offers something quite different but nothing about Xbox or PlayStation this gen has massively impressed me so far. I do think that Switch has an incredible library of games but that's really forging its own path.

I also think that the PS5 hasn't really deserved the sales numbers it has achieved whereas Xbox has deserved more than it has achieved.

With this and all of the uncertainty around acquisitions and closures, it's a very strange generation to watch unfold.

PS3 emulation doesn't mean anything if I can't put my purchased physical discs in the console and play them.

The only game on PS3 I would like to play again is 3D Dot Game Heroes. The rest of that generation can stay in the past for all I care, everything else that matters got a remaster or remake or it's going to get one.

Hasn't sony already hired people from the emulation scene 🤔

Definitely not true....Sony benefits far more from double dipping on remasters and remakes than trying to re-selling you again an old game that you might already have running on native 720/1080i resolution.

The Binary Domain love warms my heart. It flopping in-terms of sales still hurts.

It would have been awesome if Sony had put in the effort to make this happen a while ago, but I have since moved on from worrying about it after I found my PS3 in the basement last year. It's not easy to find the opportunity to fit in some PS3 games in between all of my PS4 and PS5 backlog, but it's hooked up for when the opportunities come.

@__jamiie
You are definitely spot on there, especially with reference to the actual console sales.

N.i.c.e. i still got some ps3 games.a ps3 emulator would be amazing.we will see.word up son

@nessisonett Yea i gave up on their emulation years ago. I have my old consoles still hooked up and play them more than the ps5 still. Even with the glitches and the way the new ps2 classic games run on ps5. You’re better off just playing them on native hardware as they were pretty perfected on release or just pick up a Greatest Hits copy as they were like the patched versions.

@KilloWertz I mean it was not 100% said but i think it was Jim Ryan who didnt want to do the emulation. He said a few things in separate interviews how he dont agree with playing the old games and Playstation needs to focus on the future. Maybe the new CEO is tired of playing the original Gran Turismo games on clapped out hardware. I know i am…

@xDD90x cheers, sounds needlessly arduous

@Steel76 100% agree, a lot of ps3 games look fantastic using RPCS3. Always found it odd that Sony don't just license it (or rip it off)

if this happens Ps5 sales will drastically increase. IMO

Whether this generation or the next, PS3 emulation will come, I hope 🤞🏻

I wish. That would be nice.

Ignoring the obvious difference in console sales for a second it’s kind of ironic seeing Sony turn to backwards compatibility to fill in a sparse release schedule after Microsoft did the same thing with the Xbox One!

If a ps showcase does happen in September would be a great announcement.

I have the original PS3 also plays all the PS2 and PS1 discs, right next to my PS5 so am all set until they can emulate all consoles on 1!

@Jaz007 oh, absolutely. i was praying for such a feature when ps5 launched. a basic 1080p upscale with some performance quality of life improvements would be amazing to see. at this stage of the game, though, seems very unlikely. maybe on ps6? i'm less interested in a trickle of releases from a curated list and much prefer the physical media route (or both)...

I'm lucky in that I still have my PS2 (original fatty), PS3 (original), PS4 (original) and a PS5.

I sold my PS1 years ago but wish I'd kept it.

I have zero confidence that Sony will allow us to use the discs we already have. They will just trinkle out some curated games to the PS Store and make us buy them again.

It's a shame because the PS3 remaster of the Jak series is far superior to the PS2 Classics we have on PS5 now.

Super Slim PS3 with HEN takes care of my needs, but playing so many of the games in my collection at a decent framerate with a resolution bump would be amazing without having to deal with a PC emulator…ripping the games, then transferring them over, then playing with shader compilation stutter for awhile, assuming that’s still a thing. I stopped trying a while ago.

Honestly if they can get my PS3 discs working on PS5 or PS6 they’ve got me. It was my favourite generation by far.

I’ll take them digitally too but ideally my three shelves of discs could be put to use so I could retire my poor haggard PS3 before the disc laser gives out AGAIN.

The first two InFamous games, the OG God of War games (The entire series is on PS3) and so many more third party games. PS5 would easily become a daily facet of my life instead of the once every few months thing it currently is.

Gonna keep ebaying CIB PS3/PS2/PS1 titles tyvm.

I would love to know how they implement this digitally since the PS3 store is still live and it's the same account.

Mgs4 and Tokyo Jungle would be nice

Release Puppeteer on PC instead

This rumour will keep going. When is Vita support going to PS5 even? Never likely sigh Is the PS5 capable yes, will they because moving it to PS6 or otherwise complexities with games/the emulation. I don't think they want to. They won't contact the RSPCS3 team either. That team does amazing amounts of effort with the project but they are the only ones willing, other platforms people want to make emulators for instead & major companies can replicate with ease.

As good as PS3 is if Sega cared about Binary Domain (I enjoy it too as buying up many shooters from 7th gen PS3/360/Wii) as much as many of us do they would have ported it. Same with many of the major third parties shooters east or west instead of the handful we saw in PS4 and have PS5.

Sony does make more money from games they can remaster/remake. Most of the IPs they cared or can went to PS4 or PS5 already. PS2/PSP/PS1 they treat like Nintendo does NES/SNES/N64 regardless of the prices they are old enough for nostalgia & regardless of price value. Complexity like Saturn and interest is clear.

Gamecube as remasters then emulation while Wii U well it had a Wii inside it so it wasn't that hard to do while GameCube they didn't want to scale it. Same with GBA the Ambassador program on 3DS they didn't want to emulate it on the chips just do virtualisation (Win XP fake using the same hardware & booting the OS to simulating it not hardware that's more powerful to pretend to be weaker hardware) instead.

Has the nostalgia for PS3/360/Wii happened yet? As PS2/Xbox/GameCube/Dreamcast has? I don't even care about nostalgia I just pick up what seems interesting to me regardless of price and wait it out if too high.

If people want CIB that's on you but I don't seek them & still end up with the CIB manual, disk & maybe no advertising, all of it, or just the disk/artwork/after market case. I'm happy I care more about the disk then I do CIB and that's why people complain about the price, who reads the manual. If the disk works then sure.

But not everything is going to be scratch free. Anybody wanting that wants the same quality of a fresh disk but that's not how things go and that's unrealistic. I had Wolfenstein 2009 not work, eh The Darkness 2 1st level that's it, but for the most part PS3 lasts well, not working was usually PS2 or 360.

My results have been pretty good so far can't say for others and where they shop & the differences. Then again I had no issues with EB games when they still offered PS3/360/Wii U/DS in 2017-2020 cut off and now just 3DS, Switch, PS4/Xbox One/PS5/Series only now.

Those left behind IPs they don't care about so why bother buy a PS3/360/Wii instead. I know having a Wii makes it possible to do what major third parties won't of games to Switch or even PC/VR of any kind either. Let alone their own subscription services on PC/PS4/Xbox One and PS5/Series.

The PS3 era titles studios that want to support already offer with streaming even if streaming is limited to Premium and not available for Deluxe tier regions/countries.

Get a PS3 they aren't that hard to get at least where I shop they haven't been that pricey, can't say for other regions/countries the games from 2017+ and Super Slim I got 2023 have been cheap enough to go by. Not always ebay/Price charting or other sources.

That’s fine , i’ll just keep playing my PS3 anyway .

love the UI better, native hardware > emulation, more durable controller than the DriftSense and way longer battery, i could go on - but who cares lol

My expection: cool if Sony did it but it's okay if they didn't do it.

I still have my PS3 slim every time i have the urge to played games like Deadly Premonition, Asura's Wrath, Folklore, Siren Blood Curse, Puppeteer, 3D Dot Game Heroes, almost every MGS games, classic GoW, FF XIII, og Demon's Souls, ICO & SotC collection, or PS1 & PS2 classics.

@Aeula hell yeah , PS3 generation is the GOAT 🤜🤛

@Member_the_game same. But I think it's also because every PS3/Xbox 360 game looked identical with those grey tints on them.

GTA IV and The Godfather Dons Edition and TG Part II are amongst games I still have my PS3 for.

@nomither6 DriftSense haha I love it! The triggers busted on my first DualSense within 10 days of buying my PS5 and the left stick on the warranty replacement DualSense started drifting last week. Fortunately there is a sale on DualSense controllers at the moment so I bought another replacement yesterday. Not happy that I’m out of pocket though. I’ve never had a problem with any of my PS3 or PS4 DualShock controllers.

I want to play through the Resistance Trilogy and Killzone Trilogy as well.

@Elitepatriot I am nervous to bust out the ps3 figuring it does not work anymore let alone having a working controller. That battery has to be dead.

@astro911 sorry to hear that; we’re 4 years into the generation and the drifting still being an issue is crazy. From what i’ve been told , the white dualsense has the best longevity- which isn’t saying much of course. they all go bad within 6 freaking months or less depending how long you use them

@Yaycandy I don't expect any enhancements or anything, so I'm perfectly fine with playing the PS3 games I have on the original hardware. Maybe it's a bit of nostalgia given that the PS3 will always be an extremely special console for me, but I still enjoy using it regardless.

Why would they when they can continue reselling these games as the community demand?

it should accept discs and just let you play them but nope they will do it digital so you have to buy them

its about making money not nostalgia not preservation

@Member_the_game I preferred my xbox 360 as well but the reliability or lack off made me switch to the ps3 because it just worked and I only ever had to replace it once because of a faulty drive. I still use the 360 every now and then when we get our virtual rock band together for a guitar hero session. I hope this becomes a reality because I'd really like to play killzone 3 and bad company 2 again.

@Northern_munkey

Thinking about it, that was why I ended up switching too, my 360 had 2 x ring of death incidents. Fortunately it was under warranty and replaced with a new console each time but after the 2nd one I lost confidence in it.

I ended up selling it whilst it was still under it warranty and putting the money towards a PS3.

I remember at the time not liking it as much, the online chat features and match making with friends wasn't a patch on the 360.

However it still works to this day so it served it's purpose I guess

With a new PS2 emulator and Sly's release showing good numbers for Sony, I can't see why they wouldn't try to pursue making a PS3 emulator for PS5. It's all about the money!

In theory,it would be a wonderful thing. However even with the recent RPCS3 update you still need some reasonable CPU horsepower to throw at emulation.
I find it a pity that for all the $$ thrown at buying Nixxes,mobile dev studios,Bungie,alongside the smaller purchases of Insomniac,Bluepoint etc., some of that wasn't assigned to a porting studio or two.

For example we don't know what Bluepoint is working on other than "original IP"...but would've loved to have seen stuff like Rain,LBP 1 & 2, PS3 era Ratchet & Clank,Motorstorm series,Resistance series & others in the Sony catalogue get even a more basic port. A mid range price to compensate for just unscaled old gfx,not everything needs a high end remake. Good way to test the waters for some on a sequel/reboot too!

As it is,still PS1 stuff,nevermind 3rd party ps2 stuff that'd be ideal for porting out there if they could convince publishers....Maximo please Capcom?

@lacerz trapped? Buy a PS3 and get them downloaded bro! 😄

@trev666 if you already own them digitally then you won't need to buy them again

Just wish it would support discs, even with a disclaimer about compatibility and not including new trophy support etc. Just be nice to have access to it. No reason we couldn't be playing DVD rom PS2 games on Ps4/5 right now

@Zemo55 i own them on disc and not all games on ps3 were available digitally

They can't even get PS2 emulation right, the upscaling is so weird. If they do PS3 don't expect much enhancements if any.

@Anti-Matter You're right on the game prices. My lad wanted to continue his F1 games collection on the PS3 and he picked up F1 2010 for £1 from our local CEX!
I do wonder if it might be because the games aren't useable on the PS4 & PS5 but they are very cheap these days?
Hope my Slim keeps going for many more years (and the 3 official DS3s) as there's so much good stuff trapped on there, and being the 2500 series, it's very quiet and so is the disc drive.

@trev666 That's true as none of the Motorstorm games were released digitally.

Not tried it recently but I think the bizarre thing is, if you have Driveclub on disc, you could download patches and extra DLC content (if you had already purchased it) even though it's been de-listed!

@nomither6 @astro911 Eventually got my white DriftSense (love it!) back from Sony repairs a week or so ago. Barely used in a year and when we tried using both controllers, that one just pulled to the left constantly!

Posted it with about 3 days of warranty remaining and Sony's repair tracker is just as broken as the controller innards!
First it said 'hand it in at the post office' status, then updated to say 'on its way to us' status, then reverted back to 'hand it in at the post office' and no sign of where it was. Eventually, I got an email saying it was on it's way back on the same day it a full replacement was returned!
Must be a lot of busted DS5s for them to fix...

@AdamNovice The only terrible thing here was the forced in multiplayer. All the characters were cool this is a game I would love to see get re-released I would take a higher resolution and framerate and be done with it. Scrap the multiplayer while your at it. 😅

@Cry_Zero I just finished Sly 1 from the Sly Trilogy (HD remaster) on my PS3, and it looked good.

I wish, we could play our physical PS3 games on PS4/5. My PS3 gets too hot during summer with stops me from playing some of my favourite games during the season.

It’s a shame they got rid of PS Now to be honest, it had quite a good line up of PS3 games available.
Not everyone wants to pay for premium, hope we get a new PS3 emulator at some point

I have hundreds of ps3 that I'm hoping to play one day. Maybe on ps6. I don't mind. I can wait.

@sanderson72 there’s definitely a lot of drifting DriftSenses out there 😂 and it’s funny until it’s not , because $ony is making bank from this cynical scheme. they know their controllers are borked, but they want people to keep buying new ones .

FF13 upscaled would be awesome!

Ps3 was my fav so many good games . I kept my fat og ps3 , ps5 has been boring over priced. Been with sony since ps1 and won't be buying again ,gaming is just a chore and bore on the ps5. So if they could add this will be best thing ever. If they push it for ps6 I won't bother ether forking out money again

I'll rattle my dong if this ever happens!

if its just 1st part games i'm okay with that , i still have my ps3 though , so i can still play killzone , resistance , motorstorm and infamous whenever i want.

Fingers crossed this happens...would love to have the Hot Shots/Everybody's Golf and MotorStorm PS3 games in the lineup!

@Tarquin Trouble is that the Everybody's Golf and Motorstorm online servers are dead.
Motorstorm Pacific Rift at least has split screen offline but Everybody's Golf feels like a wasteland these days with no-one else visible on the greens.

@Rodimusprime1313 to me is from what ever one says if the issue is really the ps4 holding back the ps2 games , then just make the ps2 games only for ps5. as for the ps3 games i won't really believe it till i see it happen. but i'm sure it will be mostly first party games.

@nessisonett Opinions vary.

@LordAinsley Jeff "It was revealed to me in a dream" Grubb

@Cry_Zero If xbox can do it, why cant sony?

The XBox Series X, the original XBox, and all the XBoxes in between are more or less the same hardware design, just with upgraded components. They all ran on 8086-based chips, they all ran Windows DirectX APIs under the hood, they're all the same in many fundamental ways.

The same is not true for Playstations before the PS4. It's particularly not true for the PS3, which had a radically different architecture than anything before or since. The hardware and the software has changed over time in more/different ways than the XBox.

I know you all look at black box that runs games and think they're all fundamentally the same, but that's simply not true.

@RobN yeah , i remember a guy who makes games telling me how sony made actual consoles while xbox was just essentially a PC.

nowadays both consoles are just PCs, i wish they weren’t .

Can you guys at Push Square give up on Jeff Grubb "the insider that got reliable info".
He's guessing, you guys already wrote how he was sure about a BIG PS SHOW and all we got was another State Of Play...
How many times have you cited him for "Bloodborne remake" "Bloodborne II" over the last 5 or so years?!
He is guessing and hope something sticks, in my view reddit is more reliable than J.G and reddit is wrong 99% of the time. Soooo bored reading his lies/guessing in your articles, please bury him as a source for a few years until he actually guess right a few times in a row, please?!

@RobN i know that, its still possible though. If fans can do it by themselves, them a big corporation like sony should be able to do it aswell

I highly doubt that it's ever going to come to fruition since the PS5 is ill-equipped spec-wise to be powerful enough to run and sustain it (look at RPCS3 spec requirements for example) so PS3 emulation on a PS5 is more of a pipe dream at this point.