I can confirm, PS2 emulation works mostly flawless on my CFW PS3 without native backwards compatibility. There is absolutely no point in buying an older energy-hungry hot-running PS3.
It’s not about whether or not it’s possible via emulation on CFW, but rather the precedent that hardware-level backwards compatibility was a key feature.
It’s a damned shame that such official support was dropped moving forward, and IMO should have been taken as an early sign that gaming as a hobby was going to go downhill.
At the time, backwards compatibility was attained by putting a miniature PlayStation 2 inside the console. It really wasn’t sustainable for the future.
It really wasn’t sustainable for the future maximising shareholder profits.
Maintaining PS3 backwards compatibility at launch was well within Sony’s operating profits. It was an international decision, which they proceeded to gaslight customers into believing want necessary or even wanted!
