Bazzite Deck port turns jailbroken PS5 consoles into Steam boxes from USB
The Linux image boots straight into Steam Gaming Mode from an external drive, leaves the PS5 system untouched, and offers a risky 40 CU GPU unlock.
A port of Bazzite's Steam Deck edition now runs on jailbroken PlayStation 5 consoles, Notebookcheck reported on October 30, 2026. Developer VivaLaVent's PS5 Bazzite Deck boots from a USB drive straight into Steam Gaming Mode, the Steam Deck interface, with a full KDE desktop one click away, and it does not overwrite the PS5's own system software.
How it works
The image is launched by rmux's PS5 Linux loader, so it needs a console on a firmware the loader supports; the project's documentation says it was tested on firmware 13.60. You flash the image to a USB drive of 32GB or more, ideally an external SSD on one of the fast ports, run the jailbreak and loader, and the console reboots into Linux. Power it off or restart and the PS5 starts its normal system again, even with the drive still plugged in.
The project page lists support for the original PS5, the Slim and, as a first version, the PS5 Pro. Display features depend on which HDMI chip a console has: most units can run 1440p120, 4K120, HDR and VRR, while some later models with a different chip are limited to standard modes such as 1080p120 and 4K60.
What runs
Early users report that Genshin Impact, Palworld and RimWorld are playing well, and the developer is shipping frequent bug-fix releases. Because it is Bazzite under the hood, Proton handles Windows games just as it does on a Steam Deck.
The port also offers an optional tweak that enables all 40 compute units on the base PS5's RDNA 2 GPU, rather than the 36 Sony enables in firmware. The developer warns against using it, since it can cause crashes and GPU errors, and the extra units do not promise a meaningful speed-up.
Why it matters
The PS5 is a capable gaming PC under the hood, and with Valve's Steam Machine positioned as a living-room PC, this turns a console many people already own into a rough equivalent. The barrier is the jailbreak: it only works on older firmware, it is unofficial, and Sony does not support it, so anyone trying it does so at their own risk.
What happens next
The project is moving fast, with new releases adding hardware support and fixes, so compatibility and features are likely to keep shifting through November.
Source: Notebookcheck; VivaLaVent (GitHub).
