PlayStation Now's massive new change means that members in the USA can now download PS4 and PS2 games straight onto their current gen console's hard drive. It's a huge step forward for the service, which has felt like something of an afterthought for a long time. However, there was a big question mark as to why PS3 titles aren't also available for download. Sony has responded, and it isn't great news.
When asked about PS3 games joining PS4 and PS2 software in the new download feature, a Sony spokesperson said: "PS3 games are not available for downloads because they are not compatible to run natively on PS4."
It's a straightforward answer, albeit a disappointing one. Of course, the PlayStation 3 was notorious for its complicated architecture, which the PS4 remedied with far simpler hardware. Games made for Sony's last gen system are just not built for PS4's streamlined approach, and that appears to be that.
Are you disappointed that PS3 games can't be downloaded to PS4 via PS Now? Sound off in the comments below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 38
As expected. It's a shame but the PS4 just can't emulate the PS3's architecture.
what they should do is add more ps2 games and at a later date start adding ps1 games to make up for this
It's the reason why PS Now exists in the first place. PS3 is just too complex to pull off. I still think for PS5 Sony should go all out to make legacy PS1, PS2 titles available more frequently cos they haven't done enough this gen.
Well I can live with that...PS4 and PS1 is already pretty cool...
So is there a list of available games?
Naturally
@crazykcarter Indeed and it should give them more money and people with less money can play all year for €100 less then Spotify a month.
Yes, and I am sad now.
Worth looking into Now.
@get2sammyb weaker PCs can emulate it, though?
@kyleforrester87 I very much doubt it, besides PC can brute force emulation. It's a lot different on a console especially with it's own OS.
@adf86 but PS3 emulators exist and work with lower minimum spec PCs than a PS4? I don't see why Sony would be unable to create a software emulator for PS3 on PS4 like XB1 has done with the 360 (also very different systems) if they really wanted to.
I think it is possible but at significant expense, which I guess can only be justified through more Now subscriptions. So it comes down to cost.
(Of course I appreciate unlicensed PS3 emulation on PC will likely be a mess as often as it isn't! But these are developed by a few hobbyists. Sony with direct access to hardware manufacturers and resources would have a much better shot.)
PS3 emulators aren't perfected yet and they most certainly don't run games on PC with a 1.8 TF graphic card or weaker. I have a GTX 1080ti (11.5 TF) and with the current version of PS3 emulator I still can't the games that can run to say at a steady framerate. Perhaps when it is perfected I will but the power difference is still massive. This is similar to how much power it finally took to run the PS2 emulator properly on X86. It is possible that the PS5 might be able to brute force it but it definitely ain't possible on the PS4.
Sony didn't provide BC for PS3 this gen because it would have required hardware emulation. Given that the cell processor is the most expensive part of the PS3, they decided it would be cost prohibitive, at least at launch. I suppose they could put one in today's model for a decent price though.
this shows how difficult it was to make a PS3 game...
@kyleforrester87 Another way to look at it is, what if Sony spends the money to make the emulator and it doesn't run well. Then they have potentially wasted a large amount of money that could have gone towards something else. However, my thought is, why not spend the money anyway, because if it doesn't work on the PS4, it may very well work on the PS5. The basic structure would be there and they would just have to update the code and continue working until it runs smoothly. The PS5 should be quite a bit more powerful. And who knows, maybe Sony have done this?
I actually think that it is possibly that Sony were listening to a lot of people, in regards to PS Now and thought, what if consoles don't do that well this time round and is there a separate market for this (in addition to backwards compatibility)? Other companies are jumping on this game streaming market, but with Sony adding the download option and removing devices, it does bring into question whether this is a sector that is really going to do well or not. At the end of the, we want games that run well and push many boundaries and companies keep building more and more powerful consoles to achieve this. Food for thought anyway.
One step forward, one step back. Am disappointed.
Ps3 cpu is more powerfull than ps4 cpu, I don't think ps4 has the power to emulate it. I just hope ps5 can.
Although the amount of ps3 games that I want to replay on ps4 is tiny, maybe puppeteer and that's it (already have tlou & uncharted remaster on ps4). I'm more excited for ps1 and ps2 bc on ps4.
If they really cared, they would make it work. I mean Xbox somehow made it work.
This, and changing PSN usernames —
apparently theoretically impossible. 🙄
RPCS3 is a ps3 emulator that can emulate a wide range of titles and is improving all the time. No reason that a ps4 pro couldn't do a similar thing.
@twenty90seven It's still not 100% though.
If Sony released games via emulation and they weren't 100% perfect they would receive a ton of backlash from customers, and they would be paying customers too.
Face it, backwards compatibility via emulation is not happening anytime soon.
The cell processor is incredibly complex to emulate so hardware is the only 100% way at the moment. That hardware is expensive to add and would make the PS4 more expensive to buy.
I mean, seriously. Was there a single gamer who didn't know this?
I get that it generates traffic but this is captain obvious stuff.
@arzis100193 Sure, let's throw logic out of the window. If you really want it, you can become a basketball pro-player even though your height is average and you don't have the skills. Makes sense.
To all the armchair developers in this forum that think that the PS3 cannot be emulated on the PS4:
You couldn't be more wrong.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPCS3
https://rpcs3.net/quickstart
The PS4 has the capability to emulate and play over 1,000 PS3 games natively. This emulator was put together by a team of folks who just got together on the internet and did it. Imagine what Sony engineers with intimate knowledge of the PS3 hardware and the PS4 hardware could do.
@andymitchelluk It's 100% on over 1,000 games at this point. And that list is growing. There's no reason Sony couldn't implement some kind of block on games that they didn't approve to run through the emulator if they didn't think it would be good enough.
@Gravity_Bear well, that's R&D for you, not everything will stick. But yes I agree it's probably not worth the time and money even if they do get it working. My feeling is they could given the resources they have available to them.
@Neolit I have no idea what you're referring to. Xbone does BWC through software emulation. I can play various XB and 360 games on the Xbone, either by downloading a free copy if I have the disc, or buying it digitally, so it's fair to say their efforts worked.
Sony should do the same for PS2, and why they never got PS1 up there is beyond me. PS3 is still king in terms of features and functionality.
@Neolit This is a good read on the topic, and gives some pretty nice insight as to how they got it to work on Xbox.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-xbox-one-x-back-compat-how-does-it-actually-work
@spoonard I know that the emulator can play just over 1000 games but I very much doubt that the low power Jaguar cores on the PS4 can handle it the same way a pc can.
Emulation has to be brute forced on a PC with many games having a fairly high system requirement.
The PS4 is clocked at 1.6GHz and is only an APU so the graphics is less powerful when compared to the PCs that are used to emulate games.
I'm not saying its impossible to have them running but I think it'll be difficult to have them running at full speed when you look at the PS4's hardware.
@andymitchelluk Go do some reading about the system requirements. The PS4 hardware is well within the suggested hardware requirements. Not the minimum requirements, the suggested requirements.
@spoonard I don't need to do some reading. I know it meets the requirements on paper but the Jaguar cores are not very powerful at all when compared to what many games require. The emulation is very cpu intensive and would absolutely struggle on low power cores.
@Neolit Ah yes I see now, and in that sense I see your point entirely, and I can agree with it. The other consoles you mentioned like PS2, Wii U, etc... achieved BWC at a hardware level, whereas Xbone is all software. I also agree that had the public not reacted so negatively in 2013 to MS's DRM plans, thus may not have happened, but hey it is what it is.
This sucks but sadly not surprised. Hopefully PS5 will be powerful enough to brute force PS3 games to play.
I always said the PS4 should of been able to play psone discs right out of the box...at the very least!! I would hope that ps5 will be back compatible with PS4, PS3 & psone!!!
Disappointed? Hellz to the YES....!!
The big players all across this industry are screwing up repeatedly and have been for a while. It almost seems intentional, because its like every other move they make is angering the same people, The ones with the money, i.e. the Gen Xers who are basically the first generation to grow up on video games.
They continue to make dumb decisions and for now they will continue being allowed to do that while this "sugar high" if you will, lasts. But let's be honest. You can't defy gravity forever, there must come a day when the key figures making stupid decisions have to pay a heavy cost for their shortsightedness and epic fails in leadership. (This means you Fallout 76)
Screw ps now I'd rather have backwards compatibility than a stupid service that hardly work's without a strong WiFi connection and cost ludicrous amount of money and worse than all you'll have to pay extra to download them again no thanks backwards compatibility with ps3 on the ps4 would be better because it gives you a chance to play the old classics but no Sony won't allow it and I thought their moto is (for the players) obviously not.
from what i understand, ps now lets you play ps3 games on ps4; how is it possible to actually run the game if its a compatability issue between the systems?
@andymitchelluk The PS4 apu has been benchmarked and its well within the requirements to run RPCS3. Look it up.
@PaulDanby156 If you pay the $99 for a year it works out to about $7/month. That's less than a Gamepass account.
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