Backwards compatibility is a massive draw card for players to upgrade to a new console. No one wants to buy a new device and not be able to revisit games from their collection. The Gameboy advance could play Gameboy color games, the PlayStation 2 could play PlayStation 1 games as could the PSP. This trend has sadly not been consistent. Some consoles don’t have the kind of backwards compatibility support that their owners would like. PlayStation 4 and 5 owners have been hoping for PlayStation 3 compatibility. Now that may be possible for the PS5.
As reported by Tech4Gamers, new reports reveal that the PlayStation 5 has an abundance of power where PlayStation 3 emulation is concerned. Sony has not confirmed anything as yet, although there have been rumors that they’re working on some form of backwards compatibility.
A YouTuber called Lowest Logan tested PlayStation 3 emulation on hardware that very closely resembled the PlayStation 5. Utilizing an AMD BC-25 that features similar silicon. However, the hardware Logan made use of had two CPU cores disabled. With all of these caveats the hardware was more than capable enough of emulating PlayStation 3.
These tests were carried out on an emulator and presumably Sony’s developers could further optimize the processes to speed up emulation given that it’s their architecture. Logan managed to emulate games at both native and upscaled resolutions. As mentioned the hardware used by the YouTuber was restricted and not quite as powerful as the PS5. So it stands to reason that the PS5 could easily handle any of the challenges a PS3 game might throw at it. This entire proof of concept is a credit to fans and emulation communities.
If you are curious about previous chatter regarding the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 3 emulation then click here.
