Devran Cosmo Uenal showed PS5 games running on Xbox hardware when he booted the PlayStation 5 version of Quake II on an Xbox Series X in a YouTube video posted on September 8. He also played it with an Xbox controller. The clip turns a theory into something visible, even if the project behind it is still narrow.
Quake II on Xbox Series X
Uenal’s video centers on Quake II, which is one of the four PS5 titles PS5X can currently run. He also has three more PS5 games working alongside it. That means the demo is not a one-off boot screen, but it is still a small compatibility list.
PS5X is Uenal’s Xbox port of the open-source PS5 emulator KytyPS5. KytyPS5 translates PS5 graphics commands and recompiles its shaders for Vulkan. Xbox Developer Mode only supports DirectX 11 and DirectX 12, so Uenal wrote that everything needs to be translated to DirectX since Vulkan is not supported.
Developer Mode and Microsoft
PS5X only works in the console’s official Developer Mode. Microsoft’s documentation caps games at 5GB of memory in that mode. That limit alone rules out most current-current-gen-scale titles, even before compatibility issues enter the picture.
Uenal described PS5X as a research project for running PS5 homebrew and game backups on a Series X in Developer Mode. He said the tool does not include any PS5 firmware or decryption keys. KytyPS5’s documentation tells users to stick to game files they have obtained legally.
PS5X and Quake II limits
At the time of writing, PS5X runs the PS5 versions of GEX Trilogy, Hellboy: Web of Wyrd, Marvel Cosmic Invasion and Quake II. All four games work with Xbox controller inputs. Some of the games have working sound. TweakTown estimated that Quake II runs at roughly 25 to 45 frames per second in Uenal’s footage.
The practical takeaway is simple for anyone watching for broader support: PS5X can boot PS5 software on Xbox hardware, but it is still an early research build with limited compatibility and no public download yet. The next unresolved question is when, or if, that changes for anyone outside Uenal’s own setup.
