The RPCS3 PS3 emulator team recently announced a major update—users can now load and run PS3 game discs directly from their physical optical drives, eliminating the need to dump entire game files to their computer's hard drive.
RPCS3 officially announced the news on social media: "You can now play PS3 games on your PC... directly from the disc drive! Plug and play! Owning physical game media allows you to play titles released 20 years ago without relying on any servers."
Previously, playing PS3 games required users to fully dump the disc contents to their PC, a time-consuming process. Although the RPCS3 team implemented direct ISO loading seven months ago, running games directly from physical discs remained unachievable. With this update, RPCS3 operates more like a real PS3 console, significantly saving users' SSD or HDD space.
More notably, this feature is no longer limited to the Windows platform. In the latest update, users on Linux, macOS, and even FreeBSD systems can also enjoy the convenience of reading games directly from discs. The team stated that this breakthrough was made possible thanks to the efforts of contributors "digant73" and "Megamouse".
However, it is important to note that not all Blu-ray drives can correctly read PS3 discs. RPCS3 officials recommend that users check their compatibility list to confirm whether their drive model is supported, or verify by inserting a PS3 disc and attempting to browse its files.
In recent months, the RPCS3 team has continuously rolled out several important updates, including direct ISO loading, encrypted ISO loading, and adding PS3 games to the Steam library, consistently lowering barriers to entry and storage costs for players. The addition of direct disc reading further solidifies RPCS3's position as the most mature PS3 emulator.