You know the saying: when it rains, it pours, and in Sony PlayStation’s case, it’s just been one dung storm after another on the PlayStation 5 (PS5), particularly with modders. Not only does it have to contend with modders getting AAA single-player titles running via emulation on PC, but another group of modders also appear to have successfully gotten Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming and Windows games to run on the console.

The PS5 homebrew community have reportedly managed to add the two gaming platforms to the list of ways one can play games on the console, despite not being officially supported. Developer RafaelNGP released PSBox Cloud Gaming for jailbroken PS5 systems, while developer Mihawk showed off their efforts in getting Windows games to run directly on Sony hardware.

Mihawk’s project, in particular, is interesting, as the developer had earlier confirmed plans to expand their work of running Windows games on the PS5 into a self-styled Mihawk OS.

To get into specifics, Mihawk’s PS5 Proton project supports both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows games through the Proton compatibility layer. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s the same compatibility layer Valve created and uses to enable PC games to run on its Steam Deck and Steam Machine.

The rise of PS5 emulations, in whatever forms they take, has picked up Steam since Sony announced that it would no longer port its AAA single-player titles to PC, as well as cease physical disc production. The decision has clearly been met with severe and critical backlash from the community. One modder has escalated the situation by threatening game studio and developer Take-Two Interactive with the early release of the full version of GTA VI, either when the market capitalisation of a cryptocurrency bearing the same name reaches US$30 million (~RM122 million), or the studio apologises for not offering a physical disc version and releases a physical version of the game.

(Source: Videocardz, PSBOX, Mihawk9_9, Prospero-Win)

Updated 5:53 pm, Mon, 12 October 26