Highlights

  • Sony is rumored to be working on making some PS3 games natively playable on PS5, addressing a major criticism of the console's compatibility.
  • Some PS3 games currently require a persistent internet connection to be played.
  • The possibility of native PS3 game support on PS5, as hinted by a credible insider, would be a big deal for PlayStation fans.

Sony could be working on a solution to make PlayStation 3 games natively playable on PS5 consoles, according to recent claims made by a reputable insider. Despite some of Sony's latest efforts to remedy the issue, the PS5's underwhelming backwards compatibility has been a consistent point of criticism for the otherwise impressive current-gen consoles, in large part because most games from previous PlayStation generations (sans the PS4 era) aren't playable on the PS5. If this rumor is to be believed, though, then Sony might finally fix one of the biggest flaws with its current hardware offering by providing native support for PlayStation 3 games on PS5.

Although Sony does sometimes add ports of older PlayStation games to the PS Plus Premium Classics Catalog, the PS5's backwards compatibility still leaves a lot to be desired. After all, the large majority of PS1, PS2, PS3, PSP, and PS Vita games are not playable on modern PlayStation platforms. In fact, the titles from those console generations that can be played on Sony's latest hardware often come with some caveats. For one, these classic games are only available digitally on the platform, meaning that the original physical copies of these titles aren't supported on the PS5. Additionally, in the case of PS3 games, gamers need to be persistently connected to the internet to play them on PS5, as they are only available via cloud streaming.

Nathan Drake from Uncharted and Joel and Ellie from the Last of Us with a PS3 console over them
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The PS3 deserves to be remembered fondly for its extensive library of games, with some of the best titles in all of gaming featured on this console.

While PlayStation owners might not be able to insert and run their PS2 discs on their PS5s anytime soon, they may soon have the ability to play PS3 games on Sony's modern consoles without having to stream them through the cloud. That's, at least, according to the credible insider Shpeshal_Nick, who alleged on the latest episode of the XboxEra podcast that Sony is reportedly planning to make PS3 games natively playable on the PS5. The reputable leaker's sources apparently told him that "Sony is working on select PlayStation 3 backwards compatibility for the PS5."

PS3 Games Being Natively Playable on PS5 Would Be a Big Deal

The word "select" in this context seemingly indicates that Sony will individually handpick some PS3 titles to make playable on the PS5, similar to what Microsoft did with the backwards compatible games on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. When this was mentioned, a chat member from the live-streamed podcast brought up the idea of PS3 games potentially having their framerates and resolutions boosted on the PS5. However, when asked, Shpeshal_Nick said that he wasn't exactly sure about the specifics.

"I didn't get any more details than that. Will it have an FPS boost? I've got no idea...All I heard was that Sony's working on selective PlayStation 3 backwards compatibility."

There are many great PlayStation 3 exclusives that are sadly still trapped on the 18-year-old console, like inFAMOUS, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Killzone 2. Being able to play these games natively on the PS5 would be a dream come true for many PlayStation fans, so hopefully, this rumor does end up being true.