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    PS5 emulation tracker: SharpEmu, KytyPS5, AnyPS5 and shadPS4

    In 2026 PS5 emulation went from dormant to several active open-source projects: SharpEmu and KytyPS5 opened their code in July, and AnyPS5 published its first build in September.[1][2][3] As of 10 October 2026 lighter games run well, while big exclusives such as Marvel's Wolverine reach gameplay only at single-digit frame rates.[4][5]

    Editor reviewedUpdated Gaming

    What we know

    • SharpEmu went community-driven on 15 July 2026; KytyPS5 published its source the next day[2]
    • SharpEmu had 12 of 55 tested games in-game and six playable at 60 FPS in late September[4]
    • SharpEmu's own summary listed 54 titles reaching gameplay on 10 October 2026[8]
    • Marvel's Wolverine reached gameplay on KytyPS5 at a single-digit frame rate[5]
    • AnyPS5 converts PS5 executables to native programs instead of emulating[15]
    • No PS5 emulator is close to broad compatibility with commercial games[7]
    • The PS4 emulator shadPS4 released v0.19.0 on 2 October 2026[16]

    What we don't know yet

    • Whether any PS5 emulator will run a large first-party exclusive at a stable, playable frame rate, and when
    • How Sony will respond; the sources reviewed for this page reported no legal action against the 2026 PS5 projects as of 10 October 2026
    • How SharpEmu's 'playable' ratings hold up once games are tested start to finish
    • Whether AnyPS5's relinking approach scales beyond small 2D games
    Story status

    Story status

    State
    developing
    Started
    2023-09-29
    Timeline entries
    13
    Last entry

    Timeline data (JSON)

    This tracker follows open-source efforts to run PlayStation 5 games on PCs, with the PS4 emulator shadps4 as a reference point.[6] It records project releases and compatibility milestones as reported by the projects and by technology outlets. It does not link to game files, firmware or keys. For background, start with the PS5 emulation crash course.

    Where things stand on 10 October 2026

    No PS5 emulator is close to broad compatibility with commercial games.[7] SharpEmu’s compatibility summary listed 91 tested titles out of 9,176 tracked, with 54 reaching gameplay and 37 rated playable.[8] On KytyPS5, Marvel’s Wolverine reached gameplay at single-digit frame rates.[5] AnyPS5 had verified one game, the 2D platformer Dreaming Sarah, at 60 frames per second.[9]

    How the projects compare

    ProjectApproachLanguageBest reported result (Oct 2026)
    SharpEmuEmulator built from scratchC#Six games at 60 FPS in September[4]
    KytyPS5Emulator based on modified KytyC++Wolverine in-game at single-digit FPS[5]
    AnyPS5Relinker, no emulation—Dreaming Sarah at 60 FPS[9]
    shadPS4 (PS4 only)EmulatorC++397 playable reports[10]

    What to watch next

    • Big exclusives. Whether KytyPS5 or SharpEmu can get large 3D games such as Wolverine or Astro Bot beyond single-digit frame rates.[5][11]
    • Verified “playable” ratings. SharpEmu’s developer has said its playable games were not yet tested start to finish.[12]
    • Legal response. US law prohibits circumventing copy protection, which is separate from building an emulator; see the legality analysis.[13]
    • Fake downloads. SharpEmu says only sharpemu.app and its GitHub links are official.[14]

    Timeline

    9 confirmed4 reported

    1. confirmed

      SharpEmu lists 54 titles reaching gameplay; shadPS4 has 397 playable reports[8][10]

    2. confirmed

      SharpEmu ships v0.0.5-nexus-release.2[24]

    3. confirmed

      shadPS4 v0.19.0 released with large GPU fixes[16][23]

    4. reported

      Marvel's Wolverine reaches gameplay on KytyPS5[5]

      Performance was in single digits.

    5. confirmed

      AnyPS5 publishes its first public build[3][9]

      Windows and Linux downloads of the relinker arrived two days after Tom's Hardware reported none was available yet.

    6. reported

      KytyPS5 runs PS5 GTA V at 40-60 FPS before crashing[22]

    7. reported

      SharpEmu boots Astro's Playroom on Steam Deck at under 1 FPS[21]

    8. confirmed

      SharpEmu v0.0.4-release.2 runs six games at 60 FPS[4][12]

      12 of 55 tested games reached gameplay. The developer said none of the playable games had yet been tested start to finish.

    9. confirmed

      KytyPS5 publishes its source code[2][20]

    10. confirmed

      SharpEmu becomes a community-driven open-source project[2][19]

    11. reported

      Astro Bot boots in SharpEmu; Demon's Souls stops at start-up[11]

    12. confirmed

      Last update to the original Kyty emulator[18]

      Kyty could run some simple PS4 games and PS5 homebrew; KytyPS5 would later be built on a heavily modified version.

    13. confirmed

      shadPS4 publishes its first release[17]

      The PS4 emulator later became the benchmark that PS5 projects compare themselves against.

    Sources

    Each numbered claim is a statement we checked against the sources listed with it. Status shows how well established it is.

    1. [1]

      Before mid-2026 the PS5 emulation scene had been largely dormant for years, with few updates and many abandoned projects. reportedas of 2026-07-15

    2. [2]

      SharpEmu became a community-driven open-source project on 15 July 2026, and KytyPS5 published its source code on 16 July 2026. confirmedas of 2026-07-17

    3. [3]

      AnyPS5 published its first public release, v0.1.0, with Windows and Linux builds on 28 September 2026, two days after Tom's Hardware reported that no working public build was available yet. confirmedas of 2026-09-28

    4. [4]

      With SharpEmu v0.0.4-release.2, released on 25 September 2026, 12 of 55 tested games reached gameplay and six ran as playable at 60 frames per second, all of them lighter titles such as Dreaming Sarah and Tetris Forever. confirmedas of 2026-09-27

    5. [5]

      In late September 2026 a KytyPS5 build reached gameplay in Marvel's Wolverine, but at a single-digit frame rate. reportedas of 2026-09-30

    6. [6]

      shadPS4 describes itself as an early PlayStation 4 emulator for Windows, Linux and macOS, written in C++. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    7. [7]

      As of autumn 2026 no PS5 emulator was close to broad compatibility with commercial PS5 games; the titles that ran well were mostly small, technically modest games. confirmedas of 2026-09-30

    8. [8]

      On 10 October 2026 SharpEmu's compatibility summary listed 91 tested titles out of 9,176 tracked, with 54 reaching gameplay and 37 rated playable. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    9. [9]

      As of 10 October 2026 AnyPS5's compatibility list verified one game, the 2D platformer Dreaming Sarah, running at a stable 60 frames per second on a GTX 1050 Ti. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    10. [10]

      On 10 October 2026 the shadPS4 compatibility tracker had 397 open reports rated playable, 600 in-game, 333 menus, 355 boots and 591 nothing, about 2,276 in total; a game can have one report per operating system. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    11. [11]

      By mid-July 2026 a SharpEmu tester had booted Astro Bot, while the Demon's Souls remake booted but did not get past its start-up screen. reportedas of 2026-07-15

    12. [12]

      SharpEmu's developer said none of the games rated playable had yet been tested from start to finish. reportedas of 2026-09-26

    13. [13]

      Section 1201 of the US Copyright Act prohibits circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    14. [14]

      SharpEmu warns that only sharpemu.app and links in its GitHub repository are official, and that other websites, accounts or donation pages using its name are unauthorised. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    15. [15]

      AnyPS5 is not an emulator; it converts PS5 executables into native Windows or Linux programs with a relinker and replaces the console's system libraries with its own implementations. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    16. [16]

      shadPS4 v0.19.0, released on 2 October 2026, focused on a large number of GPU fixes that its developers said made more games playable. confirmedas of 2026-10-02

    17. [17]

      shadPS4 published its first release, v0.0.1, on 29 September 2023. confirmedas of 2023-09-29

      • shadPS4 releases · shadPS4 project (GitHub) · Release v0.0.1, 2023-09-29 (retrieved 2026-10-10)
    18. [18]

      The original Kyty project, an MIT-licensed PS4 and PS5 emulator, said it could run some simple PS4 games and PS5 homebrew; its repository was last updated in May 2024. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    19. [19]

      SharpEmu is an experimental PS5 emulator written from scratch in C#; it focuses only on the PS5 and leaves PS4 emulation to shadPS4. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    20. [20]

      KytyPS5 describes itself as a free and open-source PS5 emulator written in C++ for Windows and Linux, with experimental macOS support, based on a heavily modified version of Kyty. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    21. [21]

      SharpEmu was shown booting Astro's Playroom on a Steam Deck at around 0.5 to 1 frame per second, which is unplayable. reportedas of 2026-09-26

    22. [22]

      Tom's Hardware reported that KytyPS5 ran the PS5 version of GTA V at roughly 40 to 60 frames per second on a high-end PC before crashing after the opening mission. reportedas of 2026-09-27

    23. [23]

      Besides GPU fixes, shadPS4 v0.19.0 changed core memory and signal handling, added H.265/HEVC video decoding support and updated the shader recompiler. confirmedas of 2026-10-02

    24. [24]

      SharpEmu's most recent release as of 10 October 2026 was v0.0.5-nexus-release.2, published on 8 October 2026. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

      • SharpEmu releases · SharpEmu project (GitHub) · Release v0.0.5-nexus-release.2, 2026-10-08 (retrieved 2026-10-10)
    Revision history (1)
    1. Page created.

    Created Oct 10, 2026. Last reviewed by an editor on Oct 10, 2026. Next scheduled review: Nov 10, 2026.

    Cite this page

    "PS5 emulation tracker: SharpEmu, KytyPS5, AnyPS5 and shadPS4." ContentLora, updated Oct 10, 2026. https://contentlora.com/events/ps5-emulation-tracker

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