Home Star Wars: The Clone Wars leaked listing hints at PS2 emulation coming to PS5

Star Wars: The Clone Wars leaked listing hints at PS2 emulation coming to PS5

tl;dr

  • A listing for 2002’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars slipped out onto the PlayStation Store and was retracted
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars was published for PlayStation 2, meaning classics from that era might be coming to modern platforms.
  • PlayStation has had a spotty history as regards backward compatibility and emulation on modern platforms.

A PlayStation Store listing for 2002’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars appears to signal that more PlayStation 2-emulated games will be coming to PlayStation 5 (and PS4) after a rather notable absence of classics.

Gematsu noticed the store listing, which gave a release date of June 11. That could mean Star Wars: The Clone Wars will be added into the PlayStation Plus lineup for that month. In any event, it would be the first PlayStation 2-emulated game on PS4 since 2019, and on PS5 overall, since that console launched at the end of 2020.

The top tier of the PlayStation Plus subscription service, PlayStation Plus Premium, has included original PlayStation games and PlayStation Portable titles since that service launched in 2022. PS2 and PS3 games have been notably absent however.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars was a LucasArts game developed by Pandemic Studios for PS2, GameCube, and Xbox in 2002 and 2003. It’s a combination of third-person action and vehicular combat set in the Star Wars prequel world around the time of 2002’s Attack of the Clones.

May and June are when platform holders and major video games publishers schedule big showcases, so perhaps we will learn more about Sony Interactive Entertainment’s plans for PlayStation 2 emulation soon.

Here is the game’s full product listing (since removed):

Experience STAR WARS The Clone Wars originally released on the PlayStation®2 console, enhanced with up-rendering, rewind, quick save, and custom video filters.

You are thrust into the heat of battle in the galaxy’s most unforgettable conflict. Lead the Republic army in the greatest battles of the epic Clone Wars as Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Your directive: stop the Separatists from reassembling an ancient Sith weapon of mass annihilation!

• Take over where Episode II ends. Play out the greatest battles of the epic Clone Wars.

• Sixteen single-player missions on six expansive worlds from the Star Wars universe.

• Pilot five unique craft (Republic gunship, speeder bike, fighter tank, assault walker and even a maru) against over 30 different combat units.

• Missions range from intense close combat engagements to enormous large-scale battles.

• Four entirely different multiplayer modes: team-based strategy, deathmatch, king-of-the-hill, and co-op endurance.

This title has been converted from the PlayStation®2 version to the PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®5 consoles and provides newly added features. Consequently, there may be times where the title plays differently from the PlayStation®2 version, or where some features may cause the title to not function properly. This version does not support the PlayStation®2 console’s peripherals, therefore some functionality may not be available.

Featured image via PlayStation Store

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Owen Good
Gaming Editor (US)

Owen Good is a 15-year veteran of video games writing, also covering pop culture and entertainment subjects for the likes of Kotaku and Polygon. He is a Gaming Editor for ReadWrite working from his home in North Carolina, the United States, joining this publication in April, 2024. Good is a 1995 graduate of North Carolina State University and a 2000 graduate of The Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University, in New York. A second-generation newspaperman, Good's career before covering video games included daily newspaper stints in North Carolina; in upstate New York; in Washington, D.C., with the Associated Press; and…

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