Announced so long ago that many had forgotten it existed – January 2014, to be precise – it seems Sony is now finally on the verge of introducing PS2 emulation for PlayStation 4.
First thrust into the spotlight upon the release of Star Wars Battlefront earlier this week, users that dabbled with the included PS2 games – Super Star Wars, Star Wars: Racer Revenge, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, and Star Wars: Bounty Hunter – noted that the classics were running via proprietary emulation. Given that three of the four titles were originally released for PS2, this led many to believe that Sony was ready to introduce the feature, and thanks to Wired, we know that the Japanese publisher is indeed planning its launch.
“We are working on utilizing PS2 emulation technology to bring PS2 games forward to the current generation,” a Sony representative told WIRED via email. “We have nothing further to comment at this point in time.”
Supporting a similar computer interface and environment as the original hardware, an emulator allows for a more modern console to mimic the native architecture of its predecessor and, in some cases, pave the way for higher resolutions and better performance. That’s exactly what happened with the aforementioned quartet of Star Wars games, as reported by Digital Foundry.
Sony failed to mention a timeline for the introduction of PS2 emulation for PlayStation 4 users, but we’ll keep you updated as this story develops.