Can PS5 games be pirated? See if the console runs illegal games
Shortly before completing just two years on the market, the PlayStation 5 took its first hit: in October 2022, a group of developers managed to hack the console system, leading to the famous jailbreak. In other words, pirating games on the PS5 became a possibility much faster than anyone imagined.
With its defenses against piracy broken, Sony resorted to system updates aimed at blocking hackers' codes, seeking to prevent the piracy rolled loosely on the console.
Today, just over a year later, the piracy scenario in Playstation not only is it still active, it has reached a new level. However, it is important to highlight: even with advances in piracy, the PS5 is far from being easily violated as was the case at the time of the PS2 or Xbox 360.
Piracy on PS5
Brazilians know how expensive it is to maintain a hobby like video games, especially when it comes to consoles. Not only is the hardware often quite expensive, but the Games also have quite high prices. It's no wonder that the PS2 was the darling of an entire generation of Brazilians: the ease with which the console was unlocked and the high availability of pirated discs Sold at every street market and street vendor stalls, it made access to games much easier in the Play 2 era.
Unfortunately for Sony, not all pirates are friends like Luffy and his gang.Source: Koei Tecmo Games/Disclosure
In fact, the rise of video games as a Brazilian hobby is closely linked to piracy, as buying an unlocked console and continuing to buy original games was not something that the majority of the country's population could handle. With so many people consuming pirated games on PlayStation 2when his successor left, a large part of the clientele was already loyal and immediately opted for the new Sony hardware instead of the rival console, Microsoft and its Xbox 360 — which later also gained strength due to piracy.
The time has passed, many people gave up on piracy, whether because you started working and have your own income or because you are able to buy used games (or even new ones) at fairer prices. But the situation began to change when games started to cost more and more, reaching the absurdity of some “complete” editions cost around R$500 here.
Games are increasingly expensive at launch, especially in more “complete” versions.Source: PlayStation/Reproduction
Out there, in the United States, for example, when the price of games rose to US$60 and then the possibility of setting them at US$70 arose., American gamers obviously hissed. And with good reason: it's difficult to keep buying games when they consume an increasingly larger portion of your monthly income. It was then that theSome devs who started messing around with the PS5 system in search of openings that would make it possible to break down their barriers, leading to jailbreak just over a year ago.
With the security code circumvented, the possibility of run pirated games on PlayStation 5 became an increasingly closer reality. But, after all, is it possible to pirate PS5 games or is the possibility still conceptual?
Sony's fight against piracy
As we said previously, one of the most effective ways to inhibit and block piracy on a console is to maintain a constant stream of system updates. New PS5 patches not only brought stability improvements, new features or the like, but also security updates. The idea was increasingly reinforce console barriers against hackers, making it increasingly difficult to unlock the system.
Frequent software updates are one of the most used tools to combat piracy.Source: Sony/Reproduction
Thus, a user with an unlocked console could losing unlock when updating PlayStation 5 firmware to get the news offered by the new update. And those who had not yet unlocked their systems would think twice before doing so — after all, there is always that fear of after an update the console is blocked, loses access to PSN, stops playing original games and so on. Nobody wants to have a paperweight worth almost R$4,000 at home, right?
However, even these Sony measures did not stop hackers of continuing to try to “free” the console from the Japanese manufacturer's security system. In fact, as with banking systems, the constant evolution of security also ends up serving as a motivation for developers.
Will PlayStation 5 already play pirated games in 2024?
As much as Sony fought to prevent this day from coming, the inevitable happened: Today there is already a way to run pirated PS5 games. Pirated titles or “back-ups” of your games already work on the console thanks to a type of utility that arrived on the console recently, but which is already well known to gamers: the famous homebrew, software modifications made by users.
Working on consoles with software versions between 3.00 and 4.51, the new homebrew now allows you to play a select list of PlayStation 5 games. That's right: you can now run pirated PS5 games. Although the list is not yet extensive, several Both PS4 and PS5 titles are now playable through “unofficial” means on the Sony console.
Homebrew now allows you to run pirated games on PS5.Source: Twitter/Reproduction
Does this mean that the PS5 will be the PS2 of this generation? Will we see the rise of Sony's console, with the player base growing more and more thanks to pirated games? Not necessarily. Although the phenomenon of piracy helped strengthen the PlayStation brand in Brazil and in several other countries around the world in the PlayStation 2 era, It's unlikely that something similar should happen with the PlayStation 5.
Today Sony has more tools at its disposal to stop piracy from running rampantbeing able to punish both those who adhere to unlocking and those responsible for unlocking the console much more easily than in the early 2000s. Furthermore, the frequent System updates make life very difficult for people willing to unlock the PS5's defensesso it's unlikely we'll see the PlayStation 5 following a similar path as the PS2 two decades ago.
While piracy is possible, the process is not simple.
In other words, if you're thinking about buying a PS5 to play pirated games, you'd better get out of the rain. While the possibility exists, keeping the console running illegally is complicated and the list of “cracked” games is limited. Furthermore, the entire procedure may put the product and your PlayStation Network account at risk.
For those who prefer a more traditional approach without much expense, the tip is to avoid buying games at launch and keep an eye on promotions. The PS Store has weekly discounts in its store, which allows you to guarantee games at great prices, if you search well and have patience.
Furthermore, the PlayStation Plus subscription can be a good alternative to play a lot without spending so much money. The service occasionally goes on sale, which allows you to secure PS Plus Extra and its vast catalog of games at a more attractive price.
So, what do you think of the unlocking and piracy scenario on PS5 today? Leave your opinion on Voxel’s social networks!
