PS5 can already run games from the original Xbox. Next up could be Xbox 360 and PC.

A modified PlayStation 5 has gained another unusual feature. XPSemu has been created. It is a port of the xemu emulator for the original Xbox, running directly as an application on a jailbroken PS5. The first public alpha can already run titles including Halo 2, Forza Motorsport, Fable: The Lost Chapters and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex.

Halo 2 runs even at 60 fps

XPSemu is not a simple wrapper. The emulator uses QEMU to emulate the original Xbox's processor, Vulkan for graphics rendering and runs as a native application on the PS5. The project also has its own Xbox-style interface, per-game settings and the ability to scale resolution up to 4×. In initial tests Halo 2 reaches 30 fps by default, and with the 60 fps patch it can run at roughly 36 to 50 fps during gameplay and up to 60 fps in lighter scenes. Forza Motorsport, meanwhile, manages around 15 to 21 fps during races, and Fable: The Lost Chapters typically runs at 22 to 30 fps, though frame rate drops in more demanding scenes. Interestingly, the biggest bottleneck is not the PS5's GPU but the processor. The developer reports that the emulated Xbox CPU thread can use 85 to 97 per cent of the PS5's allotted CPU time, while the GPU often remains largely underutilised.

Xbox 360 and Windows are also on the way

The experiments do not stop there. A separate project has already demonstrated early emulation of Xbox 360 on the PS5, though there is no public release yet or a list of compatible games. A PS5 Proton is being developed in parallel, which is intended to allow running Windows games and applications directly on a modified console. For now, however, both projects are at a much earlier stage than XPSemu. It should also be strongly emphasised that this does not work on a standard PS5. XPSemu requires a jailbreak, appropriate homebrew software, and its own system files and copies of games from the original Xbox.

For now, then, this is primarily an interesting demonstration of the homebrew community's capabilities rather than a new PlayStation feature available to every user.

Sources: GitHub @ZiZc3, VideoCardz