Ever since the very first video games 30 years ago, individuals have loved to subvert and modify games and also the hardware systems they’re run on. Right from the game hacks on the Spectrum handing you endless lives on Jet Set Willy back in the 80s, to XBox 360 flashing enabling one to have backups on the XBox nowadays.
Games makers and system manufacturers have had a rocky relationship in regards to gamers and modders who are oftentimes one and the same. In a sense, hackers bring more value to the systems and games - for example chips that have been modified give great convenience to gamers who can download non-sanctioned games from the internet. Similarly, games hacking breathe new life into very-hard-to-complete games, and these days it’s even de rigeur for games makers to actually embed cheat codes for gamers to discover.
But to counter that, software manufacturers state that this kind of modding damages their profits, as chip modifications can also be carried out to bypass steps to try and prevent illegal copying, and bypassing hardware that restricts discs to work just in particular locations. These are compelling causes for console and software developers to continually add new measures to make chipmods more and more tricky.
Whatever the arguments against chip modification, chip modification is now a big industry that isn’t will not go away while the demand is there.