**The PS5 and Backward Compatibility: A Deep Dive into Sony's Potential Expansion**
Hello, and welcome to this episode of [Insert Show Name]. Today, we’re diving into a topic that’s been on the minds of many gamers—specifically non-billionaire gamers like ourselves. The rumors are heating up about the potential for PS5 backward compatibility with PS3 games. While there’s no concrete confirmation yet, let’s explore the possibilities and implications.
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### **The Rumor: PS5 and PS3 Backward Compatibility**
It’s a big deal. Imagine being able to play your entire collection of PS3 games on your PS5—franchises like *Metal Gear Solid*, *Little Big Planet*, *Ratchet & Clank*, and more are currently unavailable on PS4 or PS5. These aren’t just casual titles; they’re part of gaming history, and the lack of backward compatibility feels like a significant oversight.
The conversation around this started when someone pointed out that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard was roughly the same market cap as Nintendo. While that’s fascinating, it’s not directly relevant to our discussion today. Instead, let’s focus on what could be a game-changer for Sony: the potential for PS5 to emulate PS3 games.
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### **Why Backward Compatibility Matters**
Backward compatibility is a feature Xbox has been dominating with its Game Pass service. You can insert an older X-Box 360 disc into an Xbox One or Series X, and it will download a modified version of the game that’s compatible with modern hardware. This approach ensures that even older titles work seamlessly on newer systems.
In contrast, Sony’s PS4 famously lacked backward compatibility because its architecture was entirely different from the PS3. The complexity of the PS3’s Cell architecture and its proprietary NVIDIA GPU made it difficult for developers to create games for it. Even today, the PS5 doesn’t support backward compatibility natively, though it does play PS4 games flawlessly.
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### **The Technical Feasibility of PS5 Playing PS3 Games**
Here’s where things get interesting. The technical consensus is that the PS5 could emulate PS3 games. This belief is rooted in the success of RPCS3, an open-source emulator for PS3 on PC. RPCS3 has achieved an impressive 63% compatibility rate across 3,250 PS3 games. While emulation is technically challenging—requiring powerful hardware like a six-core CPU and a high-end AMD Vulkan GPU—it’s proof that the technology exists.
The PS5’s hardware aligns closely with what’s needed to run RPCS3. If Sony chooses to implement backward compatibility, it could leverage this emulator or build its own solution. However, there are no guarantees, as the process would require significant development resources and expertise.
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### **Sony’s Business Strategy: Will They Do It?**
The question on everyone’s mind is whether Sony will make PS3 games playable on PS5—and if so, how? Microsoft’s approach involved modifying older games to work on newer hardware, but Sony might take a different route. Rumors suggest they’re working on a Game Pass competitor, which could include access to older PlayStation libraries.
If Sony follows through, this would be a major selling point for their subscription service. Gamers with large collections of PS3 games would have a reason to subscribe. However, it’s unlikely that Sony will allow you to use your physical discs directly. Instead, they might require you to purchase or rent access to these games through their platform.
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### **The Community and Developer Perspective**
The open-source community behind RPCS3 has put in years of work to make PS3 emulation possible. While their efforts are impressive, it’s a reminder that creating backward compatibility isn’t simple. Sony would need to invest significant time and resources to replicate this functionality on the PS5.
From a developer perspective, enabling backward compatibility could open up new opportunities for game preservation and experimentation. However, it also raises questions about licensing and intellectual property. Will Sony allow developers to use their technology, or will they keep it proprietary?
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### **Conclusion: The Road Ahead**
The potential for PS5 to play PS3 games is exciting, but there’s no guarantee that Sony will make it happen—or if they do, whether it’ll be free or tied to a subscription service. Microsoft’s approach with Xbox provides a blueprint, but Sony has its own business priorities and challenges.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see. If backward compatibility comes to the PS5, it could breathe new life into classic franchises and satisfy long-time fans. But whether that happens—and how—depends on Sony’s strategic decisions in the coming months.
Thanks for tuning in, and stay tuned for more updates as this story unfolds!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hello, and welcome to this is Austin.Do you think that Sony needs to expandthe back catalog of PS3?- I think they should buy Nintendo.- Look I'm still reeling over.You told me that theacquisition between Microsoftand Activision was roughly thesame market cap as Nintendo.And I can't stop thinking about that.- It is wild,but today we're talking abouta slightly different thing.That's actually a littlebit more relevant to us.Non-billionaire gamers,which is the rumors arestarting to heat up.The PS5 might, might, mightbe getting PS3 back compatibility, maybe.- So it's, I mean, we are basing this offof very small facts, but--- It could be you can seePS3 games on your PS5.- Correct.- Which you shouldn't be doing itbackwards compatibility is not a thing,but they say it's a bug.Oh no, I accidentallycoded in all these gamesand prices and download sizes.And we've kind of been talkingabout this for a long time.That really the thing thatPlayStation is lacking right nowis any type of backward compatibility.That is the one thing thatlike X-Box is absolutelydominating in this comparisonof just bringing the back catalog.There are so many, X-Box 360 games.- A Serious Astro series ascan basically play every X-Boxwith some exceptions.Generally speaking,almost every X-Box gamethat's ever been made.- Which is excellent.- With the exceptions ofgames that X-Box can't play,it's almost like, well,there's some exceptions thatthe PlayStation can play.We're not just talkingabout like AAA titlesthat were availableon PS3 that are notavailable on PS4 or PS5.These are exclusivesalmost the entire metalgear solid collection,little big planet,the one and two ofthose ratchet and clank,the HD remasteredsplinter cell remastered.It's twisted metal.These are big franchisesthat you cannot play on PS5 or even PS4.And that's a big deal.- It is.And I think there are alot of questions here.One of the big ones was the PS4 famouslynever had any backwards compatibilitybecause it was such adifferent architecture.Now Microsoft kind ofthought ahead a little bit.They're actually able tocustomize the chip on the Xbox Oneand all the subsequent chipsto be able to have a little bitof extra spice to help withbackwards compatibility.Now on the Sony side,the PS3 was infamouslydifficult to develop for itbecause it had a verycomplicated cell architecturewith all the SPU's.It had this proprietary NVIDIA GPU.It was a weird device.Now the PS3 was incrediblypowerful for its day,but it took basically theentire console generationbefore developers are really ableto get their hands around it.And because of that complexity,when it came time for the PS4 to come out,Sony was like,nah, no backwardscompatibility whatsoever.And while yes,we can play PS4 games on a PS5that's very, very much closer.And then one thing to talk about hereis the potential of the PS5to actually emulate PS3 gamesbecause the PS4 did nothave the power for it.I completely believe that nomatter how much sort of Sonymagic you put on it.But I do believe thePS5 could run PS3 games,mostly because, well,you can do it on a PC.So there's an emulator called RPCS3.It is a very highcompatibility PS3 emulator.Now this is only a few years old,but it has gotten better very quickly.This is an incrediblycomplicated system to emulate.You've got that weird NVIDIA GPUthat there's next to no documentation on.You have to emulate allthese sort of weird,like SPU core things.As of right now,I'm looking at the site right now.Out of 3,250 games available for the PS3,63% of them are playable on PC,0% of them don't work at all,which is an incredibly impressive feat'cause really this isthe open source communitywho's putting this together.The thing is to run this,obviously you need avery powerful computer.Now it can technicallyrun on most systems,but if you wanna get anydecent level of compatibility,you're gonna want atleast six cores of a Zento AMD architecture,AKA the exact same CPUthat's inside a PS5 in a series X.And you also want an AMD Vulkan GPUthat's 4,000 series or newer,again the exact same kind of GPUthat you'll find inside of PS5.There's no reason for the PS5,not to technically beable to play PS3 games.Now I am not gonna sithere and tell you thatthat is a simple thing to enable.Obviously the developers andthe community behind RPCS3,such a hard name to say.They've spent years putting this together.I remember those first proof of conceptswere incredibly basic andpeople were just blown awaythat like a simple 2D game would work.- Yeah, I remember itused to be like, what?Something like eight times theperformance of the originalsystem is what you need to emulate it.- It's very very difficult.But I think technicallythe PS5 can run PS3 games.The question is, is Sony going to do it?Because we've seen formonths and months now,rumors swirlingthat Sony is working ontheir Game Pass competitor.What a great selling point for that.If they're able to bringPS3 games back to the PS5you get once monthly Sony subscription,boom, you got your ratchet and clank,your grantors mow, yourPS 1, 2, 3, 4 classes.- That's really the questionI have is, do you thinkthat they will end up doing this for free?Or?--- Oh, okay.- One thing that a lot ofpeople have been saying,is like, I wanna weigh theplay my collection of games.I have all these games.I have a big collection of PS3 games.I cannot play the moment PS5.Do you think that when they open this up,if people will be able to play that?I don't think they will.I think you're gonna have to pay for it.- Well, actually it wasreally interesting the waythat the Microsoft sideof the house handledbackwards compatibility.Because if I own a X-Box 360 gameand it is compatible with the Xboxone of the Xbox series X,I put it into my console.It actually doesn't do anythingbesides check the license,because it actually downloadsa copy of that game.That's been slightly modified,basically all thebackers compatible titlesare like 99% the same,but they have to adda little spice on themto actually make them work, right?But basically the disc servesas the authentication say,hey, look, I own this game.I'm gonna download it.It downloads it like as a patch.I don't think Sony isgonna do the same thing.My bet--- I don't think there's any reasonthat they couldn't do the same thing.But we, we see all these rumorsof them doing like a tiered versionof Game Pass.From a business side of thingsI say like the onlyway to play these gamesis to use a subscription service.- Pay?- Pay to play.- And it hasto be better than PS now,by the way.- Of course, I mean--- PS now is such a poor experience.If you think about it,the reason the backwardscompatibility is so strong on Xbox,is because in the dark daysof the Xbox one generation,that was one of the onlythings they had going for them.That was like a major selling point.And they were tryingto get all the goodwillwith cameras that they possibly could.Sony is not really inthat position right now.Sure, could they enable thiswhere you can use your own disks?Absolutely.Should they probably...But I don't think they're inthe position where they need toand if they can charge,I mean, same thing with Nintendo, right?Nintendo, how many timesare they gonna charge youfor Nintendo online and then the eShopand all these differentways to purchase a game.- How many times did you bought a versionof Super Mario, brothers?They resell withoutdoing anything to them,by the way.Which is exactly like what I thinkthat Sony is gonna do.I don't think there'sgonna be any type of likeremastering purposes,whereas like X-Box they wentthrough and did the FPS booston as many games as they could.(indistinct)- Yeah.I don't see Sony doing anything like that.I think they're gonna put them upon the streaming serviceas is and call it a day.- There have been some patentsthat do suggest that Sonycould give a little bit ofjuice to these older games,but even if they do, I just,I'm not entirely convincedthat this is going to beto the same level that Microsofthas spent eight years doing.- And it's like,it's easy to say, \"look, we'rebeating a dead horse here.\"We're constantly talking aboutMicrosoft, Microsoft, Microsoft,but they have 100% led the waywith backwards compatibility.Sony has not done anything.I mean, they used to be great.Remember the PS2 had afull PS1 chip built inside,the PS3, the launch versions.Sony used to be like, they're basicallythe first company to reallydo backwards compatibility.You know, like you could play N64 gameon your GameCube or whatever.After the PS3 generation,where they realized howmuch money they were losingand they gave up on backwardscompatibility with PS3and with PS4,they have a long road aheadto make this really worth it.And if it's part of a 10,15, $20 month subscription,there are some games thatI would love to play againon a PS5, especially ifthere's any kind of advantages.But, man, it's tough to seehow they're gonna do thisin a way that's actuallygonna make sense as a gamer.- Me as first party gameback in the day was spiral.Was Crash Bandicoot.These are all titles thatare now owned by Microsoft.It almost feels like,and I don't actually think thisis necessarily a bad thing,but I feel like thatSony is kind of sheddingtheir PS1, PS2 skin.And just focusing on the era of PS3 art.Like if you look at their identityof what are their mascots for their games,what are their big titles?God of war.Infamous was big in the--- Uncharted.- Uncharted.- Last of us.- Yeah.So like all of thesethings happen pass PS3 on.If we do see some of thisbackwards compatibility,I would be shocked,if the backwards compatibilitywith anything more thana handful of games for one and two,where it's mostly focusing on the PS3 era.- It's reasonable, I mean, look,there is an enormousamount of money to be madewith a subscription PS plus,whatever they wanna call it, right?But like a Game Pass style subscriptionthat can include PS1, PS2,PS3, PS4 and PS5 games,people will pay a lot of money for that.I feel very confident,but there's so many waysthat this could go, right?And you look at like Ubisoft,they have their own subscriptions.- Every company in the worldis trying to find a wayto do a subscription services.It's proven that's the only way to makesustainable money on productsbecause someone can buylike one version of a gameand play it forever.And then they madenothing on that console.- We are a 100% in thegold rush right now,there's so much money floating aroundthe gaming industry right now.There's so many acquisitions happening.I feel like we're gonna lookback on this early 2020 eraof when things have changed in a huge way.And I think the next bigstep really is so much,not only try to bring some ofthat backwards compatibility,but really figure out whatevertheir Game Pass competitor is.If they nail it, I thinkthey're gonna be a good shape,but if they get too greedyor they don't have enoughor whatever the case is,I think it's gonna be an uphill battle.But I'm very curious.What do you think about this PS3 backwardscompatibility and what Sony's real answerto Game Pass is gonna be?Let us know in the comments below.Make sure to subscribe to this isfor other hot takes likeSony good, X-Box bad,or I don't know, whatever, whatever.- The 10 cent by Sony.\n"
