Before you start celebrating, the answer is no: we still don't have a PlayStation 4 emulator capable of running commercial games without issues of speed, stability, or compatibility. In fact, I think calling them "experimental" is very generous these days. But there are signs of progress, and one of the most recent comes from RPCSX. Its latest build can already run a game, and although it doesn't get past the main screen, it's a great advance for such a young emulator.
The Video Game History Foundation and the Software Preservation Network published an alarming report: the 87 percent of classic video games released in the United States are simply unavailable. It's evident that the industry is very comfortable with the idea of burying games that don't generate revenue (they've already done it before, literally), even if that means the disappearance of entire titles and franchises.
That brings us to emulation, one of our first lines of defense. The release of "exclusive" games is one of the main incentives for creating emulators. Gran Turismo on the PlayStation 1, Pokémon games on the Game Boy, Breath of the Wild on the Wii, Red Dead Redemption on PS3 and Xbox 360… the pattern is quite clear.
RPCSX and the Long Road to PlayStation 4 Emulation
https://www.youtube.com/embed/k2dc9gUOq0cIt seems unbelievable, but the PlayStation 4 will turn ten years old this November. And as expected, Sony has ignored the wishes of many players. While some ports reached a more than acceptable level of quality (Horizon Zero Dawn, Death Stranding, God of War), there are still games trapped on that platform… and at the top of the list is Bloodborne.
We're still far from an emulator that can run Bloodborne… very far. The Spine project loads about 125 games, but they're all relatively basic, and the emulator hasn't received updates in more than a year. However, the latest news brings us to RPCSX, an emulator developed by the masterminds behind RPCS3. The RPCSX GitHub profile warns that it "cannot run any games, and there is no ETA"… but the latest debug build managed to load "We Are Doomed" up to its first screen.
Why is this important? Because all emulators start the same way. Black screens, indescribable errors, performance horrors. We're just crossing the border of PlayStation 4 emulation, and one step closer to titles like Bloodborne on PC. If you want more details, this video from "SomeOrdinaryGamers" has what you're looking for…
(Editor's note: Don't be fooled by the fakes. There is "a lot" of malware disguised as a PlayStation 4 emulator.)
Official RPCSX site: Click here
