PS4 FPKG install on PS5 is now a thing, and the scene is excited, but…
PlayStation scene dev Zecoxao posted earlier today that it is now possible to install PS4 FPKGs on hacked PS5s, following a few changes added to the PS5 Webkit exploit. However the usefulness of this, at the moment, is debatable.
Updates to PS5 Webkit exploit allow for PS4 FPKG install
Some recent updates to the PS5 Webkit exploit (here and here) are allowing folks on Hackable PS5s to install PS4 FPKGs via the Debug menu.
Zecoxao’s PS5 Jailbreak host ( https://zecoxao.github.io/ps5/ ) and Echo Stretch‘s host (http://es7in1.site/ps5jb/ ) are among the hosts that have the latest update to support this feature.
On the scene, folks with hackable PS5 models have confirmed this FPKG installation “trick”, including Modded Warfare (who no doubt will come up with a good summary video on the topic sometime soon)
Usefulness of PS4 FPKG Install on PS5 is dubious
Although any progress on the hacking scene is awesome news, the installed games or homebrew aren’t playable yet, of course. Without the necessary (PS4) kernel patches, these packages can be installed but will fail to run. The only case where this would work is if you install a PKG for which your account happens to have the license, which Echo Stretch demonstrates and explains in the video below.
Of course, there is some cool factor in being able to install some of these games on your PS4, but “having the license” means your PS5 needs to have been activated with your main PSN account at some point in time. I’d personally recommend against doing it on a console you intend to use for hacking (and, to my knowledge, this isn’t doable on a lower firmware PS5 at the moment), but that’s just me.
As far as actual “Fake” packages are concerned, they will of course not run, as they don’t have a proper license. And it’s still not 100% clear whether FPKGs that work on a hacked PS4 could theoretically run on a PS5, or if the Debug menu’s package Installer will just “install” anything that remotely looks like a package file, including ones the PS5 will consider invalid (such as Homebrew).
The PS5 scene is on fire
Whether this new functionality of hacked PS5s is futile or not, the PS5 hacking scene has been boiling with updates recently.
Running PS4 FPKGs is one of the next steps for the PS5 hacking scene (and is being discussed here), while in parallel, progress has been made on patching PS4 and PS5 games at runtime thanks to work by Illusion and Astrelsky (discussed here), and Mast1c0re (running a PS2 exploit on PS4/PS5) is alive and well.
Hacked PS5s are starting to become actually interesting for end users, I can’t wait to see what hackers have in store next. Exciting times ahead!