A surprising new mod is giving the PlayStation 5 something Sony still doesn’t officially offer: a near “native-like” way to play PlayStation 3 games, including loading them straight from the disc drive.
It all starts with PS5-Linux, a recent release from developer Andy Nguyen. On PlayStation 5 consoles running older system software—specifically firmware 3.xx and 4.xx—this opens the door to running Linux in a way that effectively turns the console into a PC-style environment. With the PS5’s powerful hardware, that also means solid potential for PC gaming and smooth emulation performance.
Once Linux is up and running, modders have begun experimenting with different tools, and one standout example is PS3 emulation using RPCS3. If you’re not familiar with it, RPCS3 is a well-known, open-source PlayStation 3 emulator available on multiple platforms, including Linux, and it’s frequently updated with new improvements and compatibility work.
What makes this PS5 setup especially interesting is how “console-like” it can feel. RPCS3 supports running games from dumped files, and in this case, a modded PS5 with RPCS3 installed can also read PS3 games through the PS5’s disc drive. With the proper decryption keys provided by the user, the experience can resemble real backward compatibility more than the typical emulator-on-a-PC arrangement.
That matters because the PS5 still lacks true native PS3 backward compatibility. While Sony does provide access to some older titles through PlayStation Plus Premium, that’s not the same as putting in a PS3 disc and playing it directly. The situation was similar on the PS4, which also never gained native PS3 disc support. Historically, Sony’s most backward-compatible hardware was found in certain early “fat” PS3 models, such as CECHAxx and CECHBxx, which could play PS1 and PS2 games via the disc drive thanks to built-in support.
There is one important catch: this PS5 Linux approach is currently most practical on older PS5 consoles that remain on firmware 3.xx and 4.xx. Support for newer firmware versions is reportedly planned, but there’s a tradeoff. On updated system software, Linux would be forced to run inside the GameOS virtual machine, which may reduce performance and limit how well demanding emulation workloads run.
In other words, this is an exciting proof of what’s possible—and a potentially big deal for preservation-minded players and hardware tinkerers—but it’s not a simple, mainstream solution. For those with an older-firmware PS5, though, PS3 emulation through RPCS3 is already being demonstrated in real-world testing, including running MotorStorm Pacific Rift from a PS3 disc.
