PlayStation 5 isn’t capable of playing PS3 games outside of the PS Now streaming service that recently merged with PS Plus, but a new job listing posted by PlayStation Global has provided some hope that the long-requested feature might surface someday. PlayStation Studios is currently seeking a new Software Development Engineer to join its ranks, one who will work on the Tools and Technology team to not only support the Classics Catalog, a PS Plus perk that grants Premium members access to a large collection of classic games, but also to help “develop new emulators.” Being that Sony has already made significant headway in emulating the PS1 and PS2 generations, one of the stronger implications here is that this new hire will be charged with figuring out how to get PS3 games running on modern hardware, something that most would prefer over streaming, which is playable but comes with various issues that include input lag and other sorts of delays due to the limitations of a network.
Aiding the theory of an increased emulation effort that may involve the PS3 is a patent that was recently uncovered, one that suggests Sony is attempting to make old peripherals compatible with modern PS consoles. Diagrams in the patent allude to older hardware such as the PS Move, EyeToy, and memory card readers, all of which should be familiar to gamers who were invested in earlier generations of PlayStation. For now, PS5, PS4, and PC gamers can play PS3 games by joining the Premium tier of PS Plus, which costs $17.99/month and includes cloud streaming as one of its many benefits.
Our Software Development Engineer position works on the Tools and Technology team at PlayStation Studios to support the newly relaunched “Classics” for PS4 and PS5. Classic games run via emulation of legacy PlayStation platforms. As a Classics engineer, you would work closely with a group of other engineers, producers, and QA teams to fix bugs, add new features, and develop new emulators.
Source: PlayStation