RPCS3, the popular open-source PlayStation 3 emulator, now lets you play games straight off a physical Blu-ray disc, without dumping to a hard drive or SSD. The team announced the change on X, calling it "plug and play," and noted it works with games released as far back as 20 years ago without needing to reach out to any servers.

A compatible Blu-ray drive is still required, and RPCS3 keeps a running list of supported models from LG, ASUS, Samsung, Lite-On, Sony, HP, Plextor, and BenQ on its site. The feature started out Windows-only but has since been extended to Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD as well, and package installations run from the disc drive are apparently faster now. PS4 and PS5 owners running Linux can reportedly even launch PS3 games directly from a disc through RPCS3. Credit for the work goes to contributors digant73 and Megamouse, according to the RPCS3 team.

Sony is ending physical disc production for new PlayStation games starting January 2028, so RPCS3 pulling in the opposite direction seems rather intentional. The project also added Steam library integration a while back, letting emulated games launch like any other title in your library to further reduce friction. This new update is another step towards increasing convenience, and it's definitely a nice little boost for owners of PS3 physical media.