Native PlayStation 3 emulation on PlayStation 5 is no longer just a theory.
For the first time, a PlayStation 3 game has appeared on PlayStation 5, running natively on the new hardware. It is the platformer Cloudberry Kingdom with procedurally generated levels. In the Asian region, it was released in two versions — a full port for PS5 and a separate PS3 Edition, running through an emulator.
The project is backed by a small company called RedoApps, which has developed its own commercial PlayStation 3 emulator. In a conversation with Digital Foundry, its leaders emphasized that the technology is not related to RPCS3 and was originally created for official releases. It relies on high-level emulation, allowing it to reproduce the behavior of the original hardware.
This made it possible to cope with the synergistic SPU processors that are part of Cell. They have been considered the main obstacle to stable emulation for many years. Nevertheless, RedoApps admits that there is no universal method and each project requires individual customization.
Cloudberry Kingdom is just one of about ten PS3-era games that the studio is currently working on. Among them are indeed AAA projects, but their names are not disclosed. The developers cautiously note that "publishers are unlikely to be happy if we start talking about their games," which only fuels audience interest.
In the comments under the video of blogger Mystic, who published a video with Cloudberry Kingdom, users express hope that "large projects" hide long-standing Sony exclusives like Resistance and Killzone, whose return has been awaited for years. Some also suggest that such emulation could help PlayStation 6 become a "console for all generations."
Ultimately, RedoApps directly says that their goal is to return the entire PS3 era to modern consoles, including major AAA hits. The process will be slow and complex, but the developers are confident that such a task remains feasible.
