The first Xbox 360 emulator just landed on the Play Store

Emulation on Android has had a huge year, but with just a few weeks left, yet another major milestone has been reached. The first Xbox 360 emulator just launched in beta on the Google Play Store, and you can try it out now free of charge.

The emulator is called aX360e, and it’s based on the Xbox 360 emulator Xenia. Officially, Xenia is only available on Windows and Linux, so this unofficial Android port adapts the incomplete ARM64 backend of the Linux version. It’s the work of the Chinese developer aenu.

If you’ve been following the emulation scene on Android closely, that name will sound familiar. The developer is also behind the PlayStation 3 emulator aPS3e, which is also available on the Play Store. That one had a rough start, with accusations of non-compliance with open-source licenses.

Those were later remedied, and the developer appears to have taken the criticism to heart. The full source code for aPS3e is now available on GitHub, and the announcement post for aX360e states, “Once major issues are resolved, we will open-source the project and release the official version.”

That said, aX360e is still very early in development, so compatibility is limited. Even the PC version of Xenia doesn’t offer perfect performance, and many of the same bugs and performance limitations are only exacerbated in the Android version.

Like all emulators on the Play Store, aX360e does not include any game files, so you’ll have to rip your own games. It supports both GOD and ISO formats, with additional formats planned for future releases.

You can sign up for the public beta now, with two different versions to choose from. There’s a free ad-supported version and a paid version costing $6.99. Both should have identical performance, and the paid version is the best way to support development going forward.