Surprising PS3 update just dropped – you’ll need it if you want to keep playing

Earlier this morning, Sony released an update for the PlayStation 3. No, that’s not a mistake; the PlayStation 3 still sees continued support, even 19 years after its launch. The update isn’t a major one, but if you use your console as a Blu-ray player, it’s essential. System software update 4.92, as the update is so elegantly titled, requires only 200 megabytes of space on either the disk drive or on a removable storage medium.

Sony was lax on details for this update, stating only that “This system software update improves system performance,” but it also has another purpose. It renews the Blu-ray player encryption key — a necessary step that tells your discs they aren’t violating copyright laws. Beyond watching some of your favorite flicks, this update could also impact your ability to play certain games.

Performing the update is simple. Just connect your PlayStation 3 to the internet, and then select Settings > System Update > Update via Internet. The on-screen instructions will carry you the rest of the way.

If your PS3 can’t connect to the Internet — after all, the console is nearly two decades old — then you can update with a flash drive. The steps are a little more complicated, but still doable. Just hop on a PC or Mac, insert a USB drive that’s formatted to FAT32, and create a folder named “PS3”. Within that folder, create another one titled “UPDATE”.

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Download the update file from the PlayStation website and save it with the file name, “PS3UPDAT.PUP”. After that, plug the drive into your PS3 and select Settings > System Update > Update via Storage Media.

Although the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 have backwards compatiblity (of a sort), many of the best PS3 games are still stranded on the console with no other way to play them. The unique architecture of the PlayStation 3 makes it difficult to emulate, so any game that hasn’t made its way into the PlayStation Plus Classics Catalog can be tough to get your hands on.