Xbox users could soon be able to enjoy PS3 games

It's looking more and more likely that it'll soon be possible to play PlayStation 3 games on an Xbox Series X or an Xbox Series S, thanks to the efforts of emulation developers on the console.

In recent months, Developer Mode was updated with Mesa support, which opens the door to a whole host of emulation potential via OpenGL and Vulkan. What this means in practice is that the potential is now there for PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Switch games to be emulated via the mode, and the 3DS emulator Citra has already been made compatible with the console, so the idea isn't that far fetched.

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It should be specified, however, that currently it isn't possible at all to emulate PS3 titles on the console, and it likely won't be for a long time. Emulation is a tough balancing act, and it requires developers to actually tailor a service for a specific piece of hardware. In addition to this, the PS3 has such unique hardware that it's extremely difficult to make games from the service backwards compatible, something Sony has had teams of people working on for years, let alone emulating them on any given set-up, even one as powerful as the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S.

It is also important to note that emulation through your Xbox Series console isn't recommended and is frowned upon by Xbox themselves, occasionally even leading to temporary account bans to dissuade the targeted party from repeating the offence. However, using the developer mode feature makes it completely above board, though users must first pay $20, or the equivalent of that in their local currency to access the mode.