It appears developer LightningMods got PS5 backups to run on hacked PS5

LightningMods is on a roll recently, and today the hacker apparently showcased some massive breakthrough: PS5 backups running on a hacked PS5. LM shared very little details on what exactly he’s done to achieve this, and whether he plans to release or not, but at the moment the assumption is that he’s been able to bypass some license check here. Update: the people who have told me this have retracted their comment and what’s going on under the hood is not confirmed at the moment.

In a few tweets, the hacker has shared videos of PS5 games running on a PS5, launched from within his own homebrew loader application, Itemzflow. The videos in themselves are not proof of anything here, but this is LightningMods we’re talking about, a trusted dev of the PS4/PS5 scene.

In particular, it appears that he has been able to run a dump of GTAIII Definitive Edition for the PS5. Additionally, the hacker shared videos of The Resident Evil Village demo, the Matrix Unreal Engine Demo (although that one seems to have connection issues, and according to LM, requires a “crack”), and the Abandoned Demo.

First ever PS5 Game Back up to be played, PPSA03527 pic.twitter.com/cJmmk2dZr4

— LM (@LightningMods_) November 7, 2023

Some Demos on the PS5 do not require a license to be played, and are prime targets for early tests of “backup” compatibility. But at the very least when it comes to GTA III Definitive Edition, there’s most likely some witchery going on here. The game also requires Firmware 6.00 in theory, but with Jailbroken PS5s being capped at 4.51, the dump and/or LightningMod’s loader also seems to remove some firmware restrictions. Update: It’s been confirmed that the game requires Firmware 6.00 only after update.

LightningMods has credited Zecoxao for providing the game dumps required for the tests.

For now we’ll have to wait for more details on this, as this is just a tease of what’s (probably) to come.