Basically Sony was having to pay for PS2 and PS3 hardware in manufacturing, and then selling it at the PS3's price. In addition to Shaun's very good answer, consider the cost of emulation.įirst, the PS3's with the extra hardware for running PS2 games. While the first PS2 models incorporated hardware of the PS1 (like its CPU), later PS2 models completely emulated the PS1 via software (and were thinner). In 2000, Sony bought a Playstation emulator called Virtual Game Station. PS1, being a system simpler and older than the PS2, is easier to emulate using only software. They also have a compatibility tool that you can use to see if specific games can play on those specific models.
Sony has a knowledgebase article that explains which three versions can play PS2 games. Models since the MSG:IV bundle had neither the CPU nor the software emulation of the CPU required to play older games. It can still play most PS2 games, but support isn't as good as the earlier models with the actual EE CPU. The 80GB Metal Gear Solid IV bundle had the GPU as well, but replaced the Emotion Engine chip with software emulation of the chip. These models can play almost all PS2 games. This CPU/GPU combo was put in all PS2 units and in the first variants of the PS3 (the NTSC 20GB and 60GB models) to make them backward-compatible. PS2 games were created to work on Sony's Emotion Engine CPU and their Graphics Synthesizer GPU.
They cannot run on the CPU designed for the PS3.
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