The topic The PS5 can finally play PS3 discs, but only because modders made it happen is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
It feels terrible to have a physical library of games for an old console that never received backward compatibility support. To revisit your faves, you need to keep your generations-old hardware plugged in, and every time you push the power button, you worry that it may be the last time before the console finally gives up the ghost.
Fortunately, for people who are fans of the PS3 library, work is being made on allowing the PS5 to emulate them, something that Sony could have enabled, but never did. Now, another development in the modding scene allows you to use your physical PS3 disks on your PS5, although there are a few crucial caveats you’ll need to consider.
A little while ago, the PS5 modding community got a huge boost when someone managed to install Linux on it. On the surface, installing Linux on a PS5 is cool by its own right; you can essentially turn your console into a gaming PC and run Steam games off it. However, some people had another idea: using the Linux base to install RPCS3 on the console. From there, they could then use RPCS3 to read PS3 discs in the PS5 drive, meaning you can now run your PS3 physical library on the newer console. It’s not a native solution, but it’s the closest we’ve ever been to a key feature people have asked Sony about for years now.
Above, you can see tinkerer @retropierdolnik playing Motorstorm: Pacific Rift’s disc on the PS5. Here’s what they say, machine-translated:
RPCS3 on PlayStation 5 is the best thing that’s happened to this hardware lately. Motorstorm Pacific Rift runs like a dream. Only on PS5 3.XX -4.XX with Linux on board.
Therein lies one of the limitations: you have to have a PS5 with 3.XX-4.XX firmware. If you updated your PS5 or you bought a newer model that came with later firmware versions pre-installed, you might be out of luck. You also have to supply your own decryption key and get everything set up, which isn’t easy. However, if you can check all the boxes, you can get the PS3 support that PlayStation fans have wanted for years now.
From everyday peripherals to high-end gaming accessories, the PlayStation 5’s USB ports can be real versatile.