A recently uncovered Sony patent suggests that the company has plans to emulate classic PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 games via the cloud. This has given fans fresh hope that the upcoming PlayStation 5 console will support pre-PlayStation 4 games after all.
As spotted on Twitter by user Renka_schedule (thanks IGN), Sony appears to be looking into some form of cloud-based emulation. The translated tweet explains that "a large number of game titles across PS1/PS2/PS3 and various generations of consoles can be stored and used via the cloud gaming library.
"These games can be run on a virtual machine that mimics the operating system associated with each game console."
On PS4, the PlayStation Now subscription service offers players access to stream PS4 and PS3 titles, as well as a select handful of PS2 games. However, this new tech would allow emulation to run entirely through the cloud, rather than custom consoles at Sony's datacentre.
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The most exciting implication of this is that we'd finally be able to play original PlayStation titles via the cloud, something PS Plus service has been completely lacking.
Unfortunately, it's not currently clear if the patent is in regards to an evolution of the PS Now service for PS5, or something completely different. It's also worth noting that patents are often exploratory, and not always indicative of a product or feature that a company is guaranteed to come out with.
We already know for sure that PS4 games will absolutely be backwards compatible with PS5, but Sony has been tight-lipped about anything beyond that. It's unlikely that we'll be able to shove our original copy of Hogs Of War into the next-gen console and have it play, but a Cloud-based approach could be Sony's way of giving the fans a much-requested feature.
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This isn't the first time gamers have come across a patent hinting at PS5 backwards compatibility. Back in 2018, Sony appeared to be looking into "Remastering by emulation", a method for bumping up the quality of older visuals so they'd look better on modern consoles.
Again, it's unclear if this method was to be adopted for PlayStation 5 or if Sony had concrete plans to use it all. But between this cloud patent and remastering by emulation, it certainly looks as if Sony is at least trying to find ways to make our older games accessible on PlayStation 5.
Featured Image Credit: Sony
