A developer has shown an Xbox Series X running PlayStation 5 games through a new emulator called PS5X. According to Engadget, developer Devran Cosmo Uenal booted the PS5 version of Quake II and three other titles on the console, playing them with an Xbox controller. The project is a port of the open-source KytyPS5 emulator, and it works because both consoles use closely matched AMD hardware, allowing the emulator to translate PS5 code rather than recreate the hardware in software.
The catch is that PS5X only runs in Xbox Developer Mode, where Microsoft caps games at 5GB of memory. That is far below the 13.5GB available to retail Xbox games, so most large current-gen titles cannot run. The emulator also has to translate Vulkan graphics commands to DirectX, since Developer Mode does not support Vulkan, adding extra work and limiting compatibility.
There is no public download yet, and Uenal describes PS5X as a research project for running homebrew and legally obtained game backups. Microsoft banned emulators in normal retail mode in 2023, leaving Developer Mode as the only workaround. The source also warns that scammers are already releasing fake versions, so anyone interested should be cautious.