First PS3 emulator hits the Play Store, goes open-source (kind of)

It’s been a few months since the first PS3 emulator launched on Android, and what a busy few months it’s been. The sudden appearance (and disappearance) of aPS3e brought forth a renewed interest in PS3 emulation on Android, with one of the original RPCS3 devs now working on a port. Now, aPS3e is available on the Play Store, and it seems to be taking steps toward becoming more legit.

To recap, aPS3e is a PS3 emulator on Android based on the RPCS3 source code. Coming from an unknown Chinese developer called aenu, it mashes together code from RPCS3, Vita3K, and Termux to create a working Android port. Our early testing in February showed that it still has a long ways to go, with only a handful of games managing to launch.

Once the initial excitement died down, it became clear that the developer was playing fast and loose with open-source licences. Essentially, they made aPS3e entirely closed-source, despite using code from a number of open-source projects. The official GitHub was closed without warning a few days after launching.

Furthermore, the developer began asking for donations to continue development. Once the $2000 donation goal was reached, the source code would be released. The developer claimed they weren’t familiar with how licensing works, but it still rubbed many emulation fans the wrong way.

Skipping ahead a few months, aPS3e now proclaims to be open-source, and it’s back on GitHub. However, it seems the developer hasn’t taken all the necessary steps toward becoming open-source. The code is available on GitHub, but there’s no license page, nor any mention of the license in the Readme page.

Without a stated license, it may still cause problems for the developer. GitHub’s licensing page reads that “without a license, the default copyright laws apply, meaning that you retain all rights to your source code and no one may reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from your work. If you’re creating an open source project, we strongly encourage you to include an open source license.”