Rumor: Sony may be working on real PS3 emulation on PS5 without using the cloud

Sony Interactive Entertainment may bring PS3 games to PS5 without using the cloud.

This is according to the journalist on the site Fincherbit (Across VGC), Jeff Group, whose sources have indicated that Sony may be working behind the scenes on an emulation solution for PS3 games on PS5.

Earlier this week, Sony announced that it will be bringing classic games to its latest console through New PS Plus subscription. When it launches in June, subscribers will get benefits including access to 340 games from the original generations from PlayStation, PS2, PS3, and PSP.

However, while most of these games are available to download and play on PS5 through emulation, Sony has confirmed that PS3 games will only be playable via cloud streaming.

According to Venturebeat’s Grubb, however, the service could eventually receive PS3 emulation similar to other legacy systems it’s supposed to support. He said, “Since I’ve been talking about this all week, I looked, I asked…it looks like Sony might be emulating PS3 on PS5.” “It might take a while. I wish they’d come out and tell us that. Tell us you care about this stuff because that’s what’s missing from the PS Plus ad… To me it looks like they didn’t care about any of that. They put it together and renamed it and sold it.”

Note that emulation does not imply backward compatibility. It’s possible that if emulation ever occurs, only PS3 titles available on PS Plus (or perhaps the PS Store) will be usable.