Soon, the PlayStation 5 may no longer be able to play PS3 games from the cloud, which is currently the only way to run them (and requires a PlayStation Plus subscription).

Sony’s backwards compatibility isn’t on par with what Microsoft offers, because on an Xbox Series X (we say that because the Xbox Series S doesn’t have a Blu-ray drive) you can run Xbox 360 and Xbox games in addition to Xbox One games. The PlayStation 5 runs PlayStation 4 titles natively, but beyond that, only a fraction of PS2, PS1, and PSP games are available to the public, and there are significant gaps in the lineup. (These platforms would be better emulated on a PC with this power).

PS3 native support is not left off the list for nothing. The platform’s Cell processor would have been too complex for the time, and it was not an x86-based platform, which was then represented by the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Without an Internet connection, PS3 titles are not playable (as they run in the cloud), and the selection is far from complete. Even if you have something on disk, you can’t play it. At least not yet.

On the XboxEra podcast, one of the hosts, Shpeshal_Nick, said that Sony is looking to implement backwards compatibility for certain PS3 games on PlayStation 5. So it’s just selected titles, like Microsoft did with older games on Xbox One and Xbox Series. He doesn’t know if there will be an FPS boost and can only speculate on the resolution. There would be plenty to choose from, as several games or franchises are currently only available on PS3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Killzone 2, inFAMOUS, and many more examples…

But none of this is official. Hopefully Sony will expand the functionality of the PlayStation 5 soon, so that you don’t have to buy a used PS3 (or a powerful enough PC) to run or emulate old games.

Source: GameRant