New PS Plus Will Let You Play PSP And PS1 Games You Digitally Own Without Subscription

Sony's emulation solution for its legacy games is a little more generous than it previously said, giving back access to your older library.

[Knushwood Butt]

How very consumer friendly.

[UnSelf]

Wait, so all those ps1 games i downloaded years ago on my ps3 i can now play again on my ps5 for free?

[darthv72]

That's the plan. They should also work on PS4 seeing as they are just using emulation and the 4 is more than capable of Ps1 and PSP emulation.

[UnSelf]

What about ps2 games? Also will they have trophies?

[darthv72]

no idea on trophies. however, the games are said to be enhanced, so think of them like how MS has done xb and 360 bc games. where they are recoded to be compatible with their emulation software and improved in the process. although og xb games dont have achievements. PS2 games that were reprogrammed to work on PS4 do have trophies so those should be unaffected. PS1 and PSP games though... that is still up in the air.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Very nice

[Auron]

And the many ps3 games i purchased?

[Eidolon]

I was hoping for PS3 emulation. But it's not likely, so therefore, your PS3 digital purchases will not be playable on PS4 or PS5 unless they are offered through cloud streaming on their service, for which still you'd have to pay.. your digital license is moot unless you're playing on an actual PS3.

[Profchaos]

Unfortunately not fingers crossed for emulation locally in the future

[Eidolon]

They could, but they don't. I want what Xbox has offered with BC X360 on XB1. I know that they have a much harder transition with how complicated PS3 hardware was made, but there has been groundwork covered on PC with non-Sony engineers... Like come on.

[rippermcrip]

Shouldn't have sold your PS3.

[Profchaos]

I've still got my PS3 it's still plugged in to next to my ps5 (sold the PS4 though).

However given how good rpcs3 is playing these old PS3 games at 60 to 120 fps at 1440p on my rig feels fantastic in comparison Sony could do similar on the ps5 realistically as rpcs3 is open source as far as I'm aware

[jBlakeeper]

PS3 emulation is an expensive and difficult affair for Sony. PS3 games will stay streaming only until a PS console comes out that has PS3 emulation. Which won’t happen until it is cost effective.

[isarai]

Still waiting on confirmation of if it's stream only or if i can download them. I'd love another playthrough of The Wariors on PSP

[Eidolon]

The list looks pretty limited. You can find the "incomplete" list on PS Blog. From my deduction, it's going to be emulation.

https://blog.playstation.co...

[MrBaskerville]

Very limited, but they said the full list would be around 350 retro games, so hopefully they are saving the best retro games foe a separate post.

[VenomCarnage89]

You can download anything on the service aside from native ps3 games that have to be streamed, iirc

[MadLad]

We'll give you the games you already own

cOnSuMeR fRiEnDLy

[Silly gameAr]

The other company had to come up with a patent just to do that much.

[shinoff2183]

Someone pointed out that even xbox is fully bc.

[MadLad]

Do you even know what you're talking about? You already were able to play games in the Xbox legacy catalogue on any Xbox system with a disc drive.
The patent only potentially changes what you can do with the systems without a disc drive.

[shinoff2183]

my comment below was supposed to say that xbox isnt fully BC

[isarai]

Better than the alternative

[MrBaskerville]

Maybe there's no reason to hold a parade in sonys name based on this decision, but why isn't it consumer friendly?

[MrBeatdown]

Because sOnY dId It

[ShadowWolf712]

It literally is.

Not sure what you think that term means.

[ShadowWolf712]

They never removed a service. Nor is it back behind a paywall; if you own those titles, they're yours, period. They're also going to begin selling them to people for the new systems.

You really need to take a breath, Ted. Sounding a bit too much like your namesake here.

[Chevalier]

Meh so Xbox sells BC and you got no issues with that. Playstation does it and you got an issue?! Lol. Damn that hypocrisy coming up again. Xbox doesn't even have full BC which you and a number of people keep bringing up hoe awesome it is on Xbox. Except it's so limited what does it even matter?! I can't play most of my 360 collection on any newer systems so really wish this whole Xbox BC is better facade would end. In fact the vast majority of older games are not playable even outside of basically the hand full of popular games.

[Christopher]

This is about access to digital content from previous hardware playable on new hardware. They're improving access to games that was never expected.

Did someone else do it already? Yup.

Does that mean Sony shouldn't get any praise when following suit? Nope.

This is all better for the consumer no matter how you choose to ignore what they're doing.

You're only criticizing progress here, not winning any moral argument.

[SegaSaturn669]

Dissidia: Duodecim, Metal Gear Acid, Unlosing Ranger, Tactics Ogre. Would absolutely love to play these again.

[Eidolon]

Sure would be nice. But PSP games playable on home console platform is new, who knows, the library could grow.

[darthv72]

Not really new... at least in the sense that you think its new. PSTV users have been able to play digital PSP games on a tv for a while, same with PSP Go users. What i am most curious about is did they enable use of the 2nd analog stick for these reprogrammed ones. Using a DS controller to play PSP games was fine as most were built with only the left analog in mind. Though if they did enable right analog support, it would make games like resistance retribution much more enjoyable.

[GoodGuy09]

Oh? I have a pretty good amount.

[ocelot07]

Oh that's great I swear I own MGS Peace Walker.

[Knushwood Butt]

Peace Walker is such an amazing game. How they crammed all that into a PSP game is a mystery.

[whitbyfox]

Already playing PS1 and PSP games on Series X through RetroArch.

Works brilliantly.

[TravsVoid]

GameCube, Wii, and PS2 as well.

[whitbyfox]

Absolutely, all in one place.

[Vanfernal]

The statement is not super clear, but if I understood it correctly, if you already own the games that have been confirmed for the new PS Plus service you can play them without a subscription. The headline makes it sound like you would gain access to your whole library.

[darthv72]

It is worded rather oddly. This should be promoted as a PS Store thing seeing as no sub is required to have a PS Store account. And many of the digital PS1/PSP games will also be available to buy again on the PS Store.

[Spartacus10]

I dont get it... so do you need a subscription or dont you?

[gangsta_red]

There will be games available you can play outside the subscription if you own them digitally.

Sony will also make some older games available to purchase digitally outside the subscription too

[darthv72]

this should have been titled as "Sony letting you play your digitally owned games..." as this really has nothing to do with the New PS+. New PS+ will just let you play the games you DONT own digitally. And pretty much all of them will be available to buy on the PS Store like they were before.

[ActualWhiteMan]

Duckstation is still better to play PSX games free of charge. But this is still a move in the right direction.

[zahdab]

then technically it's not playstation plus letting you do so... it's sony give back access to your own purchased games.

[Muigi]

Hopefully they bring Kingdom of Paradise to this service I’d love to play that again on a big screen.

[Petebloodyonion]

As I said yesterday this is great news. Is it perfect? of course not just like you can't play the majority of OG xbox games on Xbox1 /S/X.
But having a small portion of BC PS1 and PSP that you can play for free if you own the original is still better than the current nothing at all.

[darthv72]

just to clarify, its not free if you own the original... its free if you own the digital version of a compatible game. Owning an original is likely the disc / UMD version. Which would be cool if they enable that as well but they have to craft a way to validate the physical in order to obtain the digital version.

Sony toyed with that option years ago with the PSP Go as users who likely upgraded from the PSP to the Go would want to be able to play their existing library of games. Problem was they were likely UMD and the idea was to use a PS3 as a bridge. Plug the PSP into the PS3 and it validated the UMD in the PSP and added it to your profile library. It didnt get very far in testing unfortunately as i think the main concern was users just borrowing UMD from friends to get the digital copies. They had to figure out how to combat users trying to skirt the system.

As for PS1 discs, Im not sure if the optical drive in the PS4/5 can read CD media otherwise that would be like how XB does it. use the disc as a validation key and then get the digital copy added to your library.

[Dandizzle]

This is pretty cool news. Time to sub up

[Ethereal]

Kudos to Sony for doing this.

[-Hermit-]

I'm confused, why do they get a kudos for this? Is this what things have come to now, praising companies for allowing you to play games you have already purchased without needing a subscription?

[Ethereal]

Unfortunately, yes. They could have easily said you purchased those under a different user agreement through a legacy device. Crazier things have been done. Credit where credit is due in my eyes.

[Flewid638]

There are still a whole plethora of PS3 games that are still stuck on the platform. Give me access to those, with online, AND performance/FPS boost across all of them.

[Silly gameAr]

Give me, give me, give me. People complain about what Sony doesn't do more than what they do do. If it was one of the other companies, people would be damn near ready to give them an award for doing this.

A plethora of older games aren't even available for xbox OR switch. BC is limited as hell on both of those, yet, you want ALLL of the PS3 games, plus performance boost for ALLLL of them. People say Sony is the most anti consumer out of the bunch, but I think it's the people that want everything handed to them all at once that are the loudest when they don't get all that they want.

[Flewid638]

I wrote 2 sentences. Between the 2 of us, how am I the loudest? Only one of us went on a rant. lmao.

[TheEnigma313]

wait, what? -____________-

[Lexreborn2]

Crazy seeing people trying to be negative over this.

[KingofBandits]

This is great news and very focused on their long term customers happiness. This is exactly the compromise I had hoped they would do.

[Ready4nxtgen]

This is really good news. I have a whole library downloaded. MGS1, fighting force 1,2, Parasite eve 1,2, Dino crisis, FF7-9. Parappa the rapper. Tons more. This just made day

[iplay1up2]

Try going back to PS1 games! They mostly don't hold up! Tomb Raider is a hot mess. N64 games are far better. Better framerates, Better graphics, and so on.

[Hofstaderman]

Xenogears, Breath of Fire, Metal Gear Solid.... Yes please

[goldwyncq]

Giving access to games we already own.

Sony, what a man you are...

[-Hermit-]

The downvotes on all of these types of posts are hilarious. I can't imagine any other company getting praise for letting you play games you already purchased without the need for a subscription.

[jznrpg]

Xbox gets praise for its semi BC . All discs can’t be popped in and actually work like some will try and make you believe . It’s not perfect , it’s not a game changer but it’s not bad to have . Adding a feature you owned before that wasn’t promised on new console is good, not a system seller or great or whatever but not bad . I own 3DS games they don’t work on my Switch physically or digitally as an expample . If they give me access to my digital games on Switch that would be good . Sure I’d like more but I wasn’t getting this before and if they changed it so I could that is good , not perfect not a game changer but it’s not bad .

[Christopher]

Person buys movie on iTunes in 2006.

Netflix adds movie to their streaming service and allows people who own it on iTunes to watch it without a subscription.

Some people on N4G: derp derp Netflix thanks for access to movie I already own on a streaming service that didn't exist until after I bought it.

[Bladesfist]

That analogy is not a good example, wouldn't it be more like person buys movie on iTunes in 2006, Apple releases iTunes 2 and allows users to watch the movie on their new iTunes 2 service free of charge.

[-Hermit-]

What an awful example, it's too different companies. I also wouldn't thank or praise them for it either.

[Christopher]

@Bladefist: Working with what I got. It's essentially what's happening now. Bought a digital game on PS3, you can play it on PS4/PS5 via PS-Ridiculous-Name-Streaming-S ervice without having to pay for the service.

@Hermit: You wouldn't thank them for trying to save you money and yet expanding and allowing you access to their services and costing them more money in the process? Sheesh. You're kind of hard to please, so guess we're just not going to even try since it's obviously not worth the money they put into doing it to begin with.