Playing PS5 titles on PC might be possible using a different route altogether with AnyPS5

Over the past few months, several projects have tried to bring PS5 games to PC. KytyPS5 has made the most visible progress in a relatively short time, pushing the PS5 version of GTA V into gameplay among other demanding titles. However, a new project has emerged that claims to have taken a PS5 game through its logo and main menu and into gameplay with audio.

A different way to skin the PlayStation 5-on-PC cat?

AnyPS5, an open-source project on GitHub, takes a different route from its competitors. Rather than emulating the console, it converts a PS5 game's executable directly into a format that Windows or Linux can load, while reimplemented PRX libraries, the PlayStation's equivalent of Windows DLLs, stand in for Sony's system software. Its developer, who goes by boykopovar, is explicit that this is not an emulator like KytyPS5, and the project page stresses that the tool involves neither emulation nor a separate runtime process. AnyPS5 targets Linux and Windows, although nothing has been released yet, and Windows builds currently require one specific MinGW-w64 GCC toolchain.

The approach is possible because the PS5 uses an AMD Zen 2 x86-64 CPU, so a game's code can execute directly on a PC processor. In theory, that should let games run with far less overhead than under emulation. TechPowerUp likens the concept to Wine or Proton, which run Windows games on Linux by translating system calls rather than simulating hardware. That comparison holds on the CPU side, but graphics are another matter, since the PS5's rendering workloads still have to be translated for Vulkan. AnyPS5's shader recompiler already produces SPIR-V code that passes validation with the official SPIR-V-Tools suite, but validated code is not the same as a correctly rendered frame, and graphics could remain the hardest part of a job that's already a relatively uphill task.

A success on the 2D front?

According to the project's GitHub page, "The real game reaches the logo, main menu, and gameplay with audio." The repository does not name the game, and beyond a screenshot of Dreaming Sarah running in a window, the main evidence is a short recording now linked from the status line. That status has shifted quickly: only days earlier, FandomWire reported that the test build crashed around frame 168 after reaching its main menu. Even so, the recording is developer-supplied; no public build is available for anyone to test, and the developer says releases will follow only once at least one game fully launches through the tool.

The choice of game matters, too. Dreaming Sarah is a small 2D platformer that debuted on Steam in 2015 and reached PS5 in 2021. It was also one of the first games SharpEmu marked as playable, making it a default first test for PS5 compatibility work. Getting it running shows AnyPS5's pipeline works end to end, but it says little about how the approach will cope with GPU-heavy 3D games, where more established projects are still struggling.

AnyPS5 also enters a race with two frontrunners, not one. SharpEmu, which prioritizes accuracy and low-level infrastructure over game-specific fixes, says 12 of the 55 games it has tested now reach gameplay, and six are playable at 60 FPS, although its demanding 3D titles have yet to get there. KytyPS5, which builds on heavily modified code from the original Kyty emulator, has gone further with big-budget games, running GTA V at up to 60 FPS before crashing, booting Astro's Playroom into gameplay, and even being ported experimentally to the Xbox Series X. In other words, KytyPS5 leads in demanding 3D games, while SharpEmu has more titles that actually count as playable.

An increasingly polarising issue for PS5 emulation fans

The timing isn't accidental by any measure: in March, Bloomberg reported that Sony would stop porting its big single-player PS5 games to PC, keeping titles such as Ghost of Yotei and Saros exclusive to the console, and PlayStation Studios CEO Hermen Hulst reportedly confirmed the policy to staff in May. With Sony's biggest single-player games now expected to stay on PS5, PC players have every reason to watch these projects closely.

AnyPS5 also takes care to stay on the legal side. Its developer says the project ships no Sony code, firmware, or encryption keys, and places the responsibility for obtaining game files lawfully on users. In practice, running a PS5 game this way typically means dumping it from a jailbroken console, which will keep the potential audience small for some time.

The project has only been public on GitHub for a few days, but the repository has been busy and has already gathered 858 stars and 34 forks at the time of writing. Its pitch is certainly interesting, since it aims to run games natively rather than through emulation, which typically demands far more powerful hardware than the console it imitates. If the developer can back these claims with a public build, AnyPS5 could attract the contributors it will need. For now, KytyPS5 and SharpEmu remain well ahead in the race to bring PlayStation 5 games to PC.

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