PlayStation 3 emulation has reached an important new milestone, and it is now possible to boot every PS3 game to a successful image output. The famously complicated Cell processor used by Sony’s seventh-generation console was a big problem for emulator developers, but there have been a lot of big improvements in this field in the past few years.
Even though the PS3 is now considered a legacy platform, many gamers still find it useful because the games that were made for it were good. Some exclusive games were Metal Gear Solid 4, the original Demon’s Souls, and Gran Turismo 6, and getting to play them on PC has been important to many gamers.
Emulation of the PlayStation 3 is mostly limited to the RPCS3 due to how complicated the original console is, and there has been a lot of progress lately. In fact, the official RPCS3 Twitter account just announced that the application can now officially boot every PS3 game ever made. This includes the best PlayStation Plus Premium PS3 games, like Infamous and Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time. Note, however, that this doesn’t necessarily mean that all PS3 games can be played on PC at this time.
Notably, just under 68% of all PS3 games can be finished with playable performance and no bugs that break the game. The remaining 32% or so boot up but are still not playable. Naturally, RPCS3 will keep getting better as time goes on, and it now seems almost certain that all the PS3-only games will eventually run well on PC. Since Sony has many exclusive games, it’s not surprising that a working PS3 emulator is as popular as it is.
Sony hasn’t said anything on the matter, of course. While some companies, like Nintendo, are very strict about anything that has to do with emulation, Sony hasn’t been quite as dragon-like in this area. Just recently, Valve took down a Steam Deck video that showed Switch emulation so that Nintendo’s lawyers wouldn’t target the new device.
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It might be worth mentioning that it’s possible Sony is working on PS3 game emulation for PlayStation 5. Jeff Grubb, a leaker, said earlier in 2022 that it’s possible Sony is looking into ways to run old classics on its latest console. So far, this rumour hasn’t led to anything, but since these things take time, it’s anyone’s guess whether something like this might happen in the future.
