An insider has claimed that Sony might be working towards native PS3 emulation on the PS5.
Last week, Sony finally confirmed the details of its new PlayStation Plus, which is set to combine Plus and Now together, as well as introduce a back catalogue of retro games. One issue with the service already is that it won't allow users to play PS3 games natively and will instead only allow them to be streamed. PlayStation players weren't happy to hear this, but an insider has suggested that it could be reversed in the future.
As reported by VGC, VentureBeat reporter Jeff Grubb spoke about the subject on the GB Decides podcast. Grubb spoke with Mike Minotti about the biggest news of the week, which led to discussion about PlayStation Plus Premium. Grubb then reveals that "Since talking about this all week, I’ve looked, I’ve asked. It sounds like Sony might be working on emulation for PS3 on PS5. It may take some time."
Grubb continued, "I wish they would come out and tell us that. Tell us that you care about this stuff because that is what was missing from the PS Plus announcement. To me, it seemed like they didn’t care about any of it. They just slapped it together, put a new name on it and sold it."
If Sony is working on PS3 emulation to eventually include as part of PlayStation Plus Premium, it would seem that it's not very far into the process, as Grubb notes that it could "take some time". It'll be interesting to see whether Sony announces that work is underway on emulation, or leaves it as a surprise later down the line.
Sony hasn't gone into detail about why the PS3 is the only console in the PlayStation Plus Premium lineup that won't allow for native downloads, but the PS3 is infamous for how difficult it was to develop games on. Its cell processor was very unique and has made emulation a difficult task over the years, although some have made it possible.