By Julian Castillo
The PlayStation 5 was always a PC. Sony never said it, but a security engineer demonstrated it. Andy Nguyen, known in the modding community as TheFlow, functionally installed Linux on a PS5 and used it to run Steam games at 60 frames per second. The experiment was documented on video and the numbers leave no room for doubt.
GTA V Enhanced Edition ran at 1440p with ray tracing enabled and no significant performance drops. It was not a laboratory trick with ideal conditions. It was a home PS5 doing what Sony says it can’t do.
Why the PS5 was always a PC in disguise
The console is built on x86-64 architecturethe same flawed that Intel and AMD processors use in any conventional computer. Under the shell is a 3.5 GHz Zen 2 octa-core processor and an RDNA 2 GPU capable of reaching 2.23 GHz.
What separated the PS5 from a PC was not the hardware. Know-how the system. Sony installs a hypervisoran alter layer that prevents unauthorized code from being executed and keeps everything within its closed ecosystem. Nguyen found vulnerabilities in firmware between versions 3.xx and 4.xx, created an exploit to eliminate that hypervisor and opened the door to installing Ubuntu.
Once inside, the console boots like any Linux PC. And from there, everything changes.
How to install Steam on the PS5 and what games can be run
With Linux active, the next step is to install Steam. The key is Protonthe compatibility layer developed by Valve that allows you to run games designed for Residence Windows directly on Linux. The result is access to a bunch of PC titles from a PS5, using a controller, on the TV.
Digital Foundry put the setup to the test by comparing the console’s native performance against those same games running on Steam with Proton on Linux. The results almost matched native performance. There was no real sacrifice of graphic quality or fluidity.
The video output runs at 4K at 60Hz, all USB ports are operational, and the fan controls are customizable. VRAM can also be allocated granularly, something no official Sony mode has ever offered.
The precedent with the PS3 and what this means for gaming in 2026
This has happened before. Sony allowed Linux to be installed on the PlayStation 3 officially through a function called OtherOS. In 2010 it was removed through a firmware update. The decision triggered a class-action lawsuit in the United States that the company resolved years later with an out-of-court settlement.
That move did not protect users. It deprived them of a functionality they already had.
In 2026, Valve is about to launch its new Steam Machines with SteamOS based on Linux and hardware architecturally very similar to that of the PS5. What Nguyen managed to do is, in essence, get ahead of that scenario using hardware that millions of people already have at home.
The process has clear limitations. Only works on PS5 consoles with firmware between versions 3.xx and 4.xxrequires advanced technical knowledge and voids the warranty. Nguyen posted all the documentation on GitHub so the community can reproduce it.
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