Two emulators, XPSemu for the original Xbox and PS5X360 for the Xbox 360, have been released, allowing older Xbox games to run on modified PlayStation 5 (PS5) consoles. Developers have reported games such as Halo 2 and Forza Motorsport running on real hardware, and PS5X360 is receiving ongoing fixes for loading and rendering problems. However, both are works in progress that port existing PC emulators to the PS5. They do not add Xbox compatibility to standard PS5 consoles. And even when a high resolution can be set, a game will not necessarily run smoothly. Practical usability depends on the processing load of reproducing the Xbox CPU and on how accurately the emulators recreate the system functions games require.
Original Xbox and Xbox 360 Emulation on PS5, Made Possible by a Shared Vulkan Layer
XPSemu is built on xemu, an original Xbox emulator, while PS5X360 is built on Xenia Canary, an Xbox 360 emulator.
Because the two target different console generations, the hardware and internal mechanisms they reproduce also differ. In other words, no single new emulator supports every generation of Xbox.
| Project | Target console | Base emulator | PS5 graphics layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| XPSemu | Original Xbox | xemu | Vulkan/RADV |
| PS5X360 | Xbox 360 | Xenia Canary | Vulkan/RADV |
XPSemu translates the original Xbox's CPU instructions at runtime using QEMU's TCG JIT, and reproduces the GPU, known as NV2A, through xemu's Vulkan rendering.
Xenia, the foundation of PS5X360, converts the PowerPC instructions used by the Xbox 360 into an intermediate representation, optimizes them, and then generates code that the host CPU can execute. This is the JIT (just-in-time compilation) mechanism described in Xenia's technical documentation on its CPU.
A key technology shared by both projects is RADV, which makes Vulkan available on the PS5's GPU.
PS5_Vulkan, published by Mihawk-99, is a port to the PS5 of RADV, the open-source Vulkan driver for AMD GPUs included in Mesa. It handles PS5-specific memory management, GPU command submission, and screen output.
This allows the Vulkan rendering used by existing emulators to be connected to the PS5's GPU.
The port was made possible not only by improvements to the emulators themselves. The development of a common rendering foundation that different software can use was also a major factor.
Of course, running on the PS5 requires more than graphics: support for controller input and audio output is also needed.
XPSemu lets the PS5's DualSense be treated as an Xbox controller and connects audio output to the PS5's own functions.
It is worth being careful about what "running as a native PS5 app" means here.
What runs directly on the PS5 is the emulator, which reproduces Xbox hardware and its runtime environment internally. The Xbox games have not been converted into PS5 software.
Halo 2 Runs at 30 FPS, While Forza Motorsport Drops to 18–25 FPS During Races
In XPSemu Alpha 2, several original Xbox games are actually running.
According to the compatibility information published by the developer, Halo 2 holds 30 FPS at default settings, while Forza Motorsport drops to 18–25 FPS during races.
Even on the same PS5, performance varies greatly depending on the game and the scene.
| Game | Reported performance in XPSemu Alpha 2 |
|---|---|
| Halo 2 | 30 FPS at default settings. With the 60 FPS patch: 51–60 FPS in the opening, 36–50 FPS during gameplay |
| Forza Motorsport | 30 FPS cap in menus and introductory sections. 18–25 FPS during races |
| Fable: The Lost Chapters | 22–30 FPS in most scenes. 10–20 FPS in demanding scenes |
The figures are based on the developer's own tests on a PS5 Fat, published as of October 13, 2026. They are not benchmarks run by a third party under uniform conditions, and they do not guarantee overall game performance or that a game can be played through to the end without problems.
Nor can the Halo 2 figures with the 60 FPS patch be directly compared with the Forza Motorsport figures at default settings.
According to the developer, the threads that reproduce the Xbox CPU in XPSemu are active 85–97% of the time, while the PS5's GPU retains considerable headroom.
This does not mean the PS5's overall CPU usage reaches 85–97%. It indicates that the process of translating and executing Xbox CPU instructions is the bottleneck, so the GPU's capability is not fully used.
As a result, raising the rendering resolution may not reduce the frame rate much.
XPSemu can raise its internal resolution from 1x, equivalent to 480p, up to 4x. If the GPU has capacity to spare, a higher resolution can have limited impact on frame rate.
However, spare GPU capacity is not the same as the CPU-side bottleneck being resolved.
Older games may look sharper, but simply raising or lowering the resolution will not make Forza Motorsport reliably reach 30 FPS during races.
Even in Halo 2, the 60 FPS patch records 51–60 FPS in the opening, but this falls to 36–50 FPS during actual gameplay.
Smooth performance right after launch or in relatively light scenes does not guarantee the same performance in demanding scenes such as combat or racing.
Launching a game, getting it to a playable state, and being able to play it comfortably to the end are each different standards of evaluation.
Reproducing the Xbox 360 Depends on System Functions, Not Just the CPU and GPU
Fixes to improve game compatibility are also continuing for PS5X360, the Xbox 360 emulator.
What matters especially is not the CPU and GPU processing itself, but the reproduction of system functions that games use, such as thread synchronization, file operations, and networking.
For example, the PS5X360 v0.5.7-fix.1 release notes report a fix for a loading freeze in Left 4 Dead 2.
The cause was that the timing of a game thread trying to suspend itself overlapped with the timing of an external suspend/resume instruction, causing the notification needed to resume processing to be lost.
The developer fixed the thread synchronization and confirmed on their own PS5 that the loading problem was resolved.
The v0.6.0 release notes also report fixes for problems in several games.
In I Am Alive, a problem was fixed in which the notification of file read completion did not reach the waiting thread.
In State of Decay, the local network port requested by the game could not be used on the PS5, so it was changed to use a different port.
For Bully, the emulator addresses a shortage of available file handles when many files are opened at once.
Fixes like these are essential for improving an emulator's compatibility.
To make a game work correctly, it is not enough to reproduce the original console's CPU instructions and GPU rendering. Suspending and resuming threads, reading and writing files, and accessing various system services must also be brought as close as possible to what the game expects.
The frame generation feature introduced in v0.6.0, on the other hand, serves a different purpose from these compatibility improvements.
PS5X360 now supports "ps5-framegen," which uses FSR3's optical flow technology, and can insert interpolated images between the frames the game actually generates.
It is designed to handle variable frame rates as well, and is expected to make on-screen motion look smoother.
However, frame generation is not a technology that speeds up the game's own processing.
It can increase the number of images displayed, but it does not speed up the game's internal calculations or input handling. And when the frame rate is unstable, the proportion of interpolated images rises, which may cause blurring in fast-moving scenes.
For this reason, frame generation is disabled by default.
What Has Been Confirmed on Real PS5 Hardware, and What Has Not
To evaluate PS5X360's development status, it is necessary to distinguish which features have been confirmed on real hardware.
According to the v0.6.0 release notes, what the developer tested on real hardware on October 11, 2026 was a build called "0.5.9-updates.5," running on a PS5 with firmware 13.60.
The published v0.6.0 executable itself was not launched on a real PS5 before release.
The developer explains, however, that apart from a change to the launcher's version display, v0.6.0's compiled program components are identical to the tested build.
Therefore, while results exist from real-hardware testing of the main features, they are not results from verifying the published package as is.
In the real-hardware tests, Grand Theft Auto IV reportedly ran at 33–59 FPS, with frame generation active on roughly 97–99% of frames during gameplay.
In Bully as well, frame generation reportedly worked on nearly every frame in scenes running at 22–25 FPS.
Some features in v0.6.0, however, remain unverified on real hardware.
For example, a feature for managing title update data was added, but it has not been tested with actual update data. Only test packages created for the purpose were used for verification.
Frame generation's 3x and 4x modes and 120 Hz output are also untested on real PS5 hardware.
In addition, Fable II and Bayonetta still have an issue in which the game does not respond to controller button input.
Even if a game launches, it cannot be played if input is not processed correctly.
For these reasons, a feature being implemented in the software must be judged separately from whether it works properly with actual games and peripherals.
The PS5X360 compatibility document likewise keeps separate records of results from reproducing and fixing problems in a PC environment and results from testing on real PS5 hardware.
Reaching a game's menu screen alone does not mean the whole game works correctly. Precisely because this is a frequently updated development build, it is important to know exactly what was confirmed in which version.
Preserving Games and Improving Compatibility Depend on Recording Operating Conditions
Neither XPSemu nor PS5X360 is software that can be used as is on a standard PS5.
Using them requires a PS5 that has been set up to run unofficial apps.
XPSemu uses an MCPX boot ROM and BIOS that users prepare from their own original Xbox, along with game images in XISO format.
PS5X360, for its part, assumes an environment already capable of running unofficial apps. The developer verified operation on a PS5 with firmware 13.60, using a combination of etaHEN, ShadowMountPlus, kstuff, and other tools.
PS5X360 does not require a separately prepared Xbox 360 BIOS.
Neither project bundles game data, so users must prepare the necessary data themselves.
Given these constraints, the achievement differs from an official backward compatibility feature that ordinary PS5 users could use right away.
Still, there is technical significance in having brought the work of xemu and Xenia, developed for PC, to the PS5.
As the range of hardware supported by existing emulators grows, so do the options for running older games. And if a common Vulkan rendering layer can be reused, the burden of developing the GPU connection from scratch with each port to a new environment can be reduced.
To connect such efforts to the long-term preservation of games, it is not enough simply to add more names to a list of "games that worked."
It is necessary to record which emulator version was used, with which firmware and settings, and how far into the game it ran correctly.
Both projects can save operation logs, and PS5X360 asks for information such as the game version, applied patches, PS5 firmware, and the scene where the problem occurred when bugs are reported.
With this information, other users and developers can more easily reproduce the same problem and check whether it improved after a fix.
The official xemu FAQ for PC also explains that games listed as playable in the compatibility list may not work properly depending on the emulator version, game data, cache state, and other factors.
Furthermore, other challenges remain for games that depend on online services.
PS5X360's compatibility document states explicitly that Xbox Live and EA online authentication are not implemented.
For example, even if a game's package artwork can be retrieved from the internet, that does not mean the game's online authentication or communication features work properly.
Being able to display a game's video does not necessarily mean that titles requiring online services can be fully reproduced.
To judge future progress, it will be necessary to confirm that the same game version and settings run stably even in demanding scenes and during long play sessions.
Accumulating real-hardware verification of controller input, title updates, in-game save functions, and more will also be essential.
The arrival of XPSemu and PS5X360 shows new potential for running older Xbox games on the PS5. But moving from the stage where a game merely launches to one where it can be played stably to the end will still require a great deal of testing and refinement.
If operating conditions and bug-fix histories accumulate and anyone can reproduce the same results, these unofficial emulators may grow in value as technology for preserving past games for the future.