A new patent has been submitted and published which may hint at backwards compatibility finally becoming a reality for fans of PlayStation 3 games who own a PlayStation 5.
In the patent (via Respawn First), submitted by architect of the PlayStation 4 and 5, Mark Cerny, as well as another Sony employee, David Simpson, details a specific “timing mode” which would “skew” a processor’s capabilities in order to more effectively run software from a “legacy device”
The details are for the technically inclined but the gist of it is that, due to new processors and old processors being built to run at different speeds, technical issues can arise as old software attempts to create and send data to a new, faster processor, leading to overwrites and other issues. The solution, according to the patent, is to have the processor enter a “timing mode” in which it would change its own timing and processing speeds in order to account for the discrepancy between old and new hardware.
While the patent does not explicitly mention the PlayStation 3 by name (though it does mention game consoles and mobile devices), it is well-known that the console did have a unique architecture that made it difficult to work with and to port over to newer systems. It is worth noting that since the console is not mentioned specifically, this technology could also theoretically be used for all of Sony’s previous consoles.
Rumors of PlayStation 3 backwards compatibility have been rampant ever since the PlayStation 4. Recently, Nick Baker of XboxEra had reported (via PSU) that “select” backwards compatible PS3 games were being worked on by Sony. Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grub on Game Mess Morning added additional fuel to the fire by reporting that he expecting it to be announced earlier in 2024 but still left open the possibility of an announcement in the future.
Though the patent does not fully guarantee PlayStation 3 backwards compatibility anytime soon, it does give fans of the late 2000s console some glimmer of hope that their collection of plastic black game cases won’t be collecting dust for all of time.
