PS3 backwards compatibility finally coming to PS5?

The notion of bringing native backwards compatibility for PS3 games to the PS5 has once again reared itself as a possibility.

The only way to play PS3 games on a PS5 right now is to stream select titles from the cloud via PlayStation Plus, but gamers are currently unable to just pop in a disc or download a copy of the game to play on their system.

The long-touted rumours that Sony is working on PS3 emulation for the current-generation machine have returned thanks to a couple of well-connected media personalities. Firstly, speaking on the Xbox Era podcast, Nick “Shpeshal Nick” Baker said he’s heard Sony is working on “select PS3 backwards compatibility.”

He didn’t have much more information, other than to say the approach might be similar to how Microsoft has handled previous generations of Xbox games by selling them from the PlayStation Store, or by making them available via PlayStation Plus.

Xbox gamers are also able to put discs into the console and download a digital copy of said games if they haven’t owned them previously.

Elsewhere, speaking on the Game Mess Mornings podcast, Jeff Grubb said Sony have been working on this for “quite some time” and he heard about it earlier this year and expected it to be revealed then, which obviously didn’t happen.

He expressed the desire for it to happen due to games like Metal Gear Solid 4 that are “trapped on that system.” He said a backward compatibility layer on the PS5 would be the easiest way to resolve this quandary.