Sony is working on backwards compatibility for PS3 games on PS5, according to multiple reports.
First, Giant Bomb‘s Jeff Grubb, a reliable industry tipster, said on the June 24th episode of Game Mess Mornings that Sony’s developers have been toiling away at native PS3 backwards compatibility for “quite some time.” Currently, the PS5 only supports some PS3 titles through the PS Plus service’s game streaming functionality.
This corroborates comments made on the June 22nd episode The XboxEra Podcast by fellow credible insider Shpeshal_Nick. On that show, Nick said “select” PS3 titles will come to PS5 via native backwards compatibility.
This would be similar to Xbox’s approach to backwards compatibility, wherein a handful of fan-favourite original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles are natively playable on Xbox Series X/S. However, Shpeshal_Nick wasn’t sure if the PS3 games would receive any resolution or framerate enhancements, which is what happens with some older games on Xbox.
Interestingly, Grubb said he thought Sony would have revealed PS3 backwards compatibility earlier this year, so he’s unsure when the company may ultimately do so. While it’s unclear why Sony seemingly might be holding off on an announcement, it’s no surprise that PS3 backwards compatibility has taken so long.
That’s because the PS3’s infamous ‘Cell’ architecture made game development far more complex on that console compared to other platforms at the time. Presumably, this is the main reason why games like Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and PlayStation’s Resistance and Killzone shooters have remained stranded on PS3.
In any event, Grubb and Shpeshal_Nick’s comments indicate that Sony has worked it all out — for some games, at least. Sony has been rumoured for a while now to be launching a ‘PS5 Pro’ this holiday, so it’s possible that PS3 backwards compatibility could coincide with that.
Otherwise, the company’s confirmed late 2024 releases so far include September’s Astro Bot and Lego Horizon Adventures (TBA holiday 2024).
Image credit: Konami
Via: GameSpot
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