this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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It essentially allows for special closed source builds. These closed source builds can have the engine support for consoles and still be in keeping with Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo's licenses.
I didn't know that. How do the developers get access to these builds? Are they sold? Or do they need to build it themselves?
So, basically the console manufacturer gives you the SDK, integration code, etc after you sign their NDAs. After that, you can either use what they gave you to port it yourself to that console, or you can pay someone else for their build.
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/3.2/tutorials/platform/consoles.html
This, right here.
Hey EU. How about lowering that barrier to entry by pumping a couple of million Euro's into cold-room reverse engineering the API's and developing an open source alternative that can be distributed freely.
We'll invite Sony lawyers, Microsoft lawyers, watch them cope and seethe as their framework is made more open...
...aaaand then realising that a lot more people will take the shot to pay for actual licensing. Go figure.
You're still going to need them to sign your binary for the console to recognize it as legit.
Circumventing the official path worked back in the 80s and 90s, but modern consoles and their SDKs were designed with those lessons in mind.
It's still valuable information for those that would seek to load homebrew (unsigned code) onto their systems.
Console security is one of those things where every additional barrier helps. The goal isn't to outright prevent homebrew or piracy but to limit the scope of breaches and delay them as much as possible. Even modern consoles like the Switch and PS5 are not immune
It would be great if there was a guaranteed way to homebrew your consoles, but yeah security and stability is the real thing we benefit from. I don't think anyone would advocate for more hackers in console multiplayer games, and I don't want a homebrew game I'm running to crash or brick my system because of their fly-by-night hardware usage.
So, I didn't bring up Xbox earlier, because Microsoft has an official way to run homebrew on Xbox consoles.
All modern Xboxes have access to something called developer mode. This allows people to put whatever code they like on it, but removes the ability to play retail games. The change isn't permanent, however, and switching between the modes is perfectly safe.
This is a big part of the reason why Xbox 1 never had piracy; pirates couldn't piggyback on the back of homebrewers, who simply opted to use developer mode instead of cracking the console.
Interesting, I didn't realize this. I assumed a dev kit was always required for that behavior, and that's why Nintendo offering a cheap switch dev kit was such a big deal. TIL