The team behind RPCS3, the leading PlayStation 3 emulator, has unveiled a major upgrade that allows users to run games directly from their original Blu-ray discs. The new feature, described by the developers as a “plug & play” solution, offers retro gaming enthusiasts a new way to utilize their physical collections without the need for prior file dumping.
Hardware requirements still apply, even with this improvement. Disc play, once exclusive to Windows, is now supported on Linux, FreeBSD, and macOS as well, following contributions from developers digant73 and Megamouse. Install times for on-disc packages have been shortened too.
RPCS3’s developers state that direct disc support should theoretically extend to physical games released as far back as 20 years ago, with no need to rely on external servers. However, users must provide a valid decryption key for their specific disc release and boot from a compatible Blu-ray drive. RPCS3 uses the provided key to decrypt the game’s content on the fly.
Hardware Limitations
The need for a specific type of Blu-ray drive is a “hard” limitation that the emulator will not be able to overcome anytime soon, according to the development team. Because PS3 games do not use the standard Blu-ray format, drives require specific MediaTek chipsets to read the discs properly. While many drives on the market use these chipsets, not all of them do, necessitating an official compatibility list.
RPCS3’s quickstart guide includes a list of working BD drives capable of reading a PS3 disc’s file structure, dumping its contents, and booting the game from within the emulator’s UI. For example, the “UHD Friendly” Asus Blu-ray burner (BW-16D1HT) has been noted as a device that successfully extracts and boots original copies of titles like Demon’s Souls. With the new update, users with compatible drives can now boot such games straight from the disc.
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