Inside EmuHub: What We’ve Built and What Comes Next

Earlier this year I shared the first look at EmuHub. I wanted a better way to browse and play the games I already own, without treating a big collection like a folder full of mystery filenames. Since then, that little idea has grown into a proper self-hosted game room. Here is where it stands today.

The wheel is the heart of it

EmuHub opens with the kind of system and game wheels I always wanted in a frontend: artwork, video, music, and a sense of place for each console. An arcade system can feel like a neon-lit game room; a PlayStation can feel like the living room where you first saw its boot screen. You can change the backgrounds and layouts yourself, use your own art, or let the library tools fetch available logos, boxes, screenshots, and video.

The catalog now covers more than 70 system entries, including arcade machines, classic consoles, handhelds, home computers, DOS, and newer systems that need native emulators. Search, favorites, and controller-friendly navigation keep a large library usable. I am still tuning how quickly enormous game lists and their artwork appear, because a wheel should feel smooth, not like a web page struggling to catch up.

One library, more places to play

The browser player is the quickest way in and remains a major focus. EmuHub also has native client work underway for the screens where a browser is not the best fit:

• Windows is getting native game launches, local server discovery, and an easier household sign-in flow.
• iPhone and iPad are being tested with touch and gamepad controls, account pairing, saves, and the cores that make sense on Apple devices.
• Fire TV and LG webOS bring the wheel to the couch, with remote and controller navigation getting the attention it deserves.
• Android and macOS are in progress too. They will get their own real-device testing rather than inheriting a support label from another client.

The goal is the same library and the same recognizable experience everywhere, while letting each device use the playback method that works best for it. That does not mean every one of those systems is playable on every screen yet. The per-client details will be clear when the downloads are ready.

Yes, we are building a PS5 client

This is probably the part I am most excited about. The PS5 is not just opening the website in a browser: we are building a console-style frontend and native playback path that connects to the EmuHub library. On real hardware, we are testing the wheel, artwork, controllers, streamed game content, saves, and the trip back to the menu after playing. Some game and core combinations have reached actual gameplay. Others still need work on controls, sound, loading, or performance. It is promising, and it is not a public PS5 release yet.

We have also started researching a Switch 2 client. That is early work, not a claim that you can install EmuHub and play on Switch 2 today. I would rather show you the real progress as it happens than pretend a mockup is a finished app.

The useful stuff behind the pretty stuff

A good frontend needs a library you can actually maintain. The Management Console scans game folders, helps match awkward titles, shows missing artwork, accepts your own uploads, and checks BIOS and firmware files. System settings and selected per-game options live there too. It is designed for the collection you already have, not a special folder structure made just for a demo.

Player profiles tie the experience together. Cloud-save paths are being checked across clients and cores. RetroAchievements add goals to supported games, cheats and graphics settings are available where their cores allow them, and netplay is in beta while multiplayer is tested game by game. Household pairing is meant to make a trusted home setup simple without turning local network discovery into a security shortcut. If you travel with a client, normal account credentials still matter.

What happens next

I am working through the unglamorous parts that make a project worth sharing: smoother browsing on large libraries, reliable game launches, real-device controls and saves, a straightforward Docker install, and guides that tell you what each client can honestly run. You bring your own games, BIOS, and firmware; EmuHub does not bundle commercial content.

This is a progress report, not a release announcement. The web player and several clients are already far beyond a concept, but I do not want your first experience to be a half-finished installer or a console list that overpromises. I will share the source, downloads, and setup guides when they are ready. For now, I wanted to show how much the game room has grown, especially the PS5 work, and where we are taking it next.