The PS4 scene was pretty excited a couple days ago when the announce of a gamesharing modchip was made for the PS4. The device, named PS4 MTX Key, will allegedly let users share games with an unlimited amount of friends, technically enabling limited-scale piracy on the PS4.

Today a tutorial video of the device was shared (see below) by user Westingame, a youtube account dedicated to wholesale modchips for consoles. The process (in addition to the soldering skills you’ll need to install the PS4 MTX) looks simple enough if a bit convoluted. It involves connecting and disconnecting from the same account a handful of times, deactivating the PS4, plugging/unplugging the LAN cable and pressing a couple of buttons on the MTX device.

The video is more a tutorial than a video attempting to confirm the device works. There’s nothing that really proves anything in the video, although several hackers have already told playstationhax that the device is legit. The video states that the games can be shared with an unlimited number of people once the setup is done, and that the mod works up to the latest PS4 Firmware (currently 4.72).

Since there is a huge trust factor involved (the user will need to login to a shared account that has all the games, meaning all “friends” will need to have access to the shared account’s credential), I’m am not sure how widespread or popular this device will be.

The procedure seems a bit “risky” too from a financial perspective, as I can’t imagine that Sony will not take action against accounts that are suspected to be shared through this mechanism. Mess up one of the steps by having your console connected at the wrong time, and it’s possible Sony will detect the manipulation, and that the account gets deactivated. Invite one “friend” to your group who decides to change the password of the shared account and keep the games to themselves, and it’s probably game over too. It seems to me the risks will increase the larger the group of friends becomes. Since the device requires a shared account with legit games, losing the account means losing the money that was used to buy the games in the first place.

However I can see how this will get the business of “mod shops” booming. These shops could easily set up one of those shared accounts, not share the credentials with their customers but instead set everything up for them with a Hard drive loaded full of pirated game. Basically, the brazilian jailbreak all over again: abusing the gamesharing mechanism has been a reality in mod shops for years now, and this device might just make it a bit more mainstream, at least until Sony blocks it, through software updates or a hardware revision.

The PS4 MTX Key is set to be released at the end of the month, according to modchip retailers.

Source: playstationhax