PS3 Gets Firmware Update 4.90

4.2

The latest PlayStation 3 update is now available to download, adding some minor improvements to the aged console’s performance. Despite it not being sold in stores since 2017 and already having two successors as of this writing, Sony continues to add new updates to the seventh-generation PlayStation 3 console - though major support was discontinued last April.

One of these surprise PlayStation 3 updates came not too long after Sony reversed its controversial decision to shut down the console’s PlayStation Store in the summer of 2021. This firmware patch only contained a few minor performance tweaks. The later Version 4.89 PS3 update added a new password requirement to PlayStation Network, as well as removed the ability to create a new account on the PS3. These downloadable PS3 firmware updates have naturally been few and far between, and it may come as a shock for the uninitiated that Sony would continue to make changes to a console that has been off the market for nearly six years now.

However, Sony is indeed continuing to update the aged PS3 console, as evidenced by the Version 4.90 firmware patch that was recently released. Like the 4.88 update before it, this newest download will only add a few minor system performance and security improvements. As is the case with all PlayStation firmware updates, it will start to download automatically whenever the user signs on to the internet using their PS3 console, but Version 4.90 will require 200MB of free space on either the PS3 Hard Disk Drive or on removable storage media.

While most PlayStation players are currently using the newer PS4 or PS5 consoles as their primary source of gaming, there are a few reasons to keep the dusty PS3 around. Many of the seventh generation's best PlayStation titles are still only available for the PS3, and it features backward compatibility for the older PS1 and PS2 libraries that the PS4 and PS5 lack. Some digital titles are also easier to buy on the PS3's PlayStation Store, which is why Sony's initial decision to shut it down in 2021 was met with enough backlash to have it reversed shortly after it was announced.

For these reasons, Sony is still making minor adjustments to the nearly 17-year-old PlayStation 3 system in the form of firmware updates like this week’s Version 4.90 patch. Downloading this newest update is as easy as turning the PS3 on and connecting it to the internet, something many of the console’s users have already done to access its impressive library of PlayStation Store titles.