Sony releases fresh system software update for PS3, nearly two decades post-launch

Sony has just released a new update for its PS3 console, which turns 19 this year.

The system software update 4.92 improves system performance, according to the patch notes, and also renews the Blu-ray player encryption key to allow for disc playback.

Updates of this sort are an annual occurrence, as the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) encryption key regularly expires – it’s a copyright-protection technology that requires a key to be set on both the disc and the console in order to play new films.

The key also exists on PS4 and PS5, but according to the console manuals, the encryption key is automatically renewed, but on PS3 it must be done in a system update.

Presumably Sony will continue to release such updates on PS3 until it stops supporting the console.

It ceased manufacturing PS3s back in 2017, around a decade after it first launched. Over 87.4m PS3 consoles were sold, as of March 2017.

This is fewer than the lifetime sales of Sony’s PS1, PS2, and PS4 consoles. The PS5 has sold 75m units, with sales on par with those of the PS4.

PS5 Pro sales, meanwhile, have fallen behind those of PS4 Pro.

As for the future of PS5, check out our rundown of everything announced at the PlayStation State of Play February 2025.