Because the PS4 Console is not backwards compatible, you have to get creative if you want to play PS3 games on a PS4.
As of right now, there is only one way to play PS3 Games on a PS4 for free and that is using PS Now. The only reason that it’s free, is because you’re offered a free trial upon signup.
While most people would use their 7 day trial and sign up for the recurring membership if they enjoyed the service, there are ways to continue to play for free.
When using these methods, you can still play on your main account and your save progress will be kept.
How To Get Playstation Now For Free Forever
It’s very easy to get Playstation Now for free. You can use this method as many times as you like, however, it can get very boring and repetitive.
Here’s a video explaining how to do it:
The method takes advantage of creating new accounts and using the 7 day free trials.
What You’ll Need:
- 1x New Email Address
- 1x New Playstation Account
If you want to use it on your main account, there’s a couple of extra steps that you’ll need to take.
Follow the steps below to play PS3 games on your PS4 without having to pay:
- Create an email address & new PSN account – I’m sure most people reading this article will already have multiple PSN accounts on their system.
If you don’t, It’s time to join the club. Creating a new email address is necessary to create a new PSN account. Without a new account, you cannot do this method. - Sign into your main account and then “switch” to the fresh account – Once you’ve created a new account and everything is ready, sign into your main account and then switch to the new one using the “switch user” feature.
- Sign Up for a 7 Day PS Now Free Trial – While signed in on your new account, go to the Playstation store and sign up for the PS Now 7 Day Trial.
- Load Up PS NOW – While you’re still signed in on the new account, load up the PS Now application and find the game that you want to play on the app.
Once you’ve clicked on the game, there should be an option to “Play Download”. Hit this button to start the game - Switch back to your main account- The whole point of this article is to play PS3 Games for Free and keep your progress at the same time.
Once you’ve loaded the game on the trial account, close the application and switch back to your main account using the “switch user” feature in the PS4’s Quick menu.
Now, once you go back to your main account, you’ll be able to load the game straight from the home screen.
This method is pretty much fool proof if you follow the steps, however, there are some things you need to keep in mind.
#1 – Make sure to cancel your trial before the 7 days is up. I like to do this straight away so that I’m not accidentally forgetting about it and paying the subscription fees.
#2 – For this to work everytime, you need to load up the game first on your second account and then switch to your main. I believe this is what unlocks the game when it would otherwise be blocked.
How To Cancel Your PS Now Subscription
Cancelling subscriptions on the PS4 is fairly straightforward. To do this, you’ll need to sign into the account with active subscriptions.
Once you’re signed in and on the Playstation home screen navigate to [Settings] > [Account Management] > [Account Information] > [Playstation Subscriptions]
When you’re on the Playstation subscriptions screen, it will show every active subscription your account has, whether its’ PS Plus, EA Access or PS Now.
On your fresh account, only PS Now should be showing. Click on it, and hit the “Turn Off Auto-Renew” button.
Doing this will take you to the PS Now App where it will prompt you for a second time. Asking you if you want to turn off auto renew. Again, hit yes, and you’ll see a confirmation message with the date that your trial ends.
Now that you’ve cancelled PS Now, you can enjoy your games for the next 6 days before you have to do it all again.
PS Plus = Free PS3 Games?
As you’re probably already aware, Playstation Plus subscribers are gifted free games each month that they are able to keep for the duration of their membership.
Sometimes Sony will give away free PS3 Classics or “Multi-platform” games.
While it’s somewhat rare, and they’re often random games that nobody really wants, it’s another method of playing PS3 games for free on your PS4 console.
The Selection Is Lacklustre
While yes, have access to some PS3 Games is better than none, the lineup still leaves a lot to be desired.
Unlike Xbox’s backwards compatibility, PS Now only offers a select handful of games.
The best PS3 titles on PS Now (In my opinion) are Batman, Bioshock, Fallout, God Of War, Infamous, MGS, Rachet & Clank, and Red Dead Redemption.
There are many more titles, however, those are the best.
Unfortunately there are no Call Of Duty or Need For Speed titles.
