Wide-scale game piracy can be very profitable in markets that aren't well-served by the console operator. You're not gonna make money selling pirate blurays in the US since you'll go straight to prison, but I can imagine PS4 owners in second or third-world countries buying a stack of pirated blurays for 20% the cost of retail and local law enforcement not being terribly interested in doing something about it.
Possibly but who is going to pay you $20k to realize these theoretical profits? They essentially mean un-networking your console, never updating it, only using physical media, likely losing your PSN account. There's a huge leap from step 1. 'an exploit exists', step N 'lots of hacked consoles and people buying pirated discs for them' and whatever step 'PROFIT' appears in. A latent market for free or cheap stuff is not the same thing as a market for this exploit.
> They essentially mean un-networking your console, never updating it, only using physical media, likely losing your PSN account.
Everything you list there is a plus in non-wealthy countries were internet access is slow and expensive. I suspect the total sales of bootleg PS2 games greatly exceeded Sony's legit sales in the global south due to the widespread availability of "chipped" PS2 consoles.
Sure, but still nobody is going to pay you $20k today for an exploit that might, just might, in a few years time, enable brisk business in the street markets of Cochabamba.
> non-wealthy countries were internet access is slow and expensive
I’m not sure many people could afford a PS5 in places such as this. And in most ‘second world’ where people have a but more money internet is generally cheap and fast especially compared so countries like US or Canada.
> I’m not sure many people could afford a PS5 in places such as this.
Why does it have to be "many"? Bootleg games have extremely high margins for the bootleggers.
That said, the PS5 is cheaper than an iPhone, and there are plenty of those. If you're bored, look up instagram pictures geolocated in the poorest cities you can think of, then count the number of recent iPhones that at least worth a new PS5. The number may surprise you.
What's the market for this exploit, though? Who is going to pay never mind $20k but more or less anything for it?