Currently PS5 emulation won’t be able to play GTA6 regardless of how good the emulators get. The actual game is going to be encrypted with keys for the latest ps5 firmware. Currently there is no known exploit for that firmware version which means there’s no way to decrypt and dump the GTA6 game files for use in an emulator (or for use on a piracy-enabled ps5).
You’ll see a fair amount of misinformation about this. The most common claim is “something something this is why no disc” but even if GTA6 was coming out on a disc, the game would be encrypted against the exact same keys the download version is so would-be pirates would still be waiting for a latest-firmware PS5 exploit.
This is how every game on PSN or discs for PS5 works. Disc copies are usually a month or so behind ‘latest’ due to pressing time. The last big ps5 release keyed to a vulnerable firmware is Marvel’s Wolverine.
People will not be able to play it without updating their PS5 firmware (which for most people happens automatically). You can’t downgrade firmware versions. So by locking the game behind the latest update (a version that currently blocks piracy and homebrew), the game can’t be pirated via PS5s until someone finds an exploit on a version that can run GTA.
That may be true, but there is no harm in making sure the emulation is as functional as it can be made before this encryption key problem inevitably gets solved.
If you first wait for the encryption keys you’ll suddenly discover you have yet to make the emulation actually work.
GTA-specific work can’t start until the emu devs have GTA to work with. In the long run, emulating a game that’s getting a native PC release is not going to be an important part of emulating PS5 as a platform. In the short run, the emulator won’t have GTA before Rockstar releases its native PC release, this idea of “lol pirate the ps5 game to punish rockstar for delaying the PC game” is juvenile fantasy.
Sure, but backports are a thing, right? The new Wolverine game “requires” a console firmware version of like 13.40, but you can download a backported version of the game that runs on 4.0. I don’t have a ps5, and I don’t know how any of that translates to emulation, but I’ve got plenty of ps4 games that “require” a higher firmware version than what my console has, but I can play them because they’re backported. The current ps5 jailbreak works on firmwares as new as a few months ago. Backported ps4 games have been a thing for years, and from what I can tell about ps5, that doesn’t appear to have changed.
Backports work because the 13.4 firmware (or whatever wolverine needs) has been exploited. The encryption keys that are part of 13.4 have been dumped and extracted using that exploit, so now you can tell your 4.0 ps5 to tell Wolverine to “decrypt the game with this key” and it’ll do it. If GTA needs 14.0 keys, you won’t be able to do that until someone cracks 14.0 and dumps the key. You could give GTA the v13.4 keys just like Wolverine, but GTA doesn’t decrypt with 13.4 keys.
pory@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Currently PS5 emulation won’t be able to play GTA6 regardless of how good the emulators get. The actual game is going to be encrypted with keys for the latest ps5 firmware. Currently there is no known exploit for that firmware version which means there’s no way to decrypt and dump the GTA6 game files for use in an emulator (or for use on a piracy-enabled ps5).
You’ll see a fair amount of misinformation about this. The most common claim is “something something this is why no disc” but even if GTA6 was coming out on a disc, the game would be encrypted against the exact same keys the download version is so would-be pirates would still be waiting for a latest-firmware PS5 exploit.
iamthetot@piefed.ca 1 day ago
Do you have a source for this?
pory@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This is how every game on PSN or discs for PS5 works. Disc copies are usually a month or so behind ‘latest’ due to pressing time. The last big ps5 release keyed to a vulnerable firmware is Marvel’s Wolverine.
OwOarchist@pawb.social 1 day ago
So … people with an older PS5 won’t be able to play it?
pory@lemmy.world 1 day ago
People will not be able to play it without updating their PS5 firmware (which for most people happens automatically). You can’t downgrade firmware versions. So by locking the game behind the latest update (a version that currently blocks piracy and homebrew), the game can’t be pirated via PS5s until someone finds an exploit on a version that can run GTA.
AliOski@feddit.nl 23 hours ago
That may be true, but there is no harm in making sure the emulation is as functional as it can be made before this encryption key problem inevitably gets solved.
If you first wait for the encryption keys you’ll suddenly discover you have yet to make the emulation actually work.
pory@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
GTA-specific work can’t start until the emu devs have GTA to work with. In the long run, emulating a game that’s getting a native PC release is not going to be an important part of emulating PS5 as a platform. In the short run, the emulator won’t have GTA before Rockstar releases its native PC release, this idea of “lol pirate the ps5 game to punish rockstar for delaying the PC game” is juvenile fantasy.
raspirate@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Sure, but backports are a thing, right? The new Wolverine game “requires” a console firmware version of like 13.40, but you can download a backported version of the game that runs on 4.0. I don’t have a ps5, and I don’t know how any of that translates to emulation, but I’ve got plenty of ps4 games that “require” a higher firmware version than what my console has, but I can play them because they’re backported. The current ps5 jailbreak works on firmwares as new as a few months ago. Backported ps4 games have been a thing for years, and from what I can tell about ps5, that doesn’t appear to have changed.
pory@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Backports work because the 13.4 firmware (or whatever wolverine needs) has been exploited. The encryption keys that are part of 13.4 have been dumped and extracted using that exploit, so now you can tell your 4.0 ps5 to tell Wolverine to “decrypt the game with this key” and it’ll do it. If GTA needs 14.0 keys, you won’t be able to do that until someone cracks 14.0 and dumps the key. You could give GTA the v13.4 keys just like Wolverine, but GTA doesn’t decrypt with 13.4 keys.
raspirate@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Gotcha. Thx for the explanation!