Editing Softmod (section)

==Legality==
Due to commonly being used to circumvent [[digital rights management]], softmodding is seen as a tool to enable [[online piracy|piracy]], although the act of softmodding in itself may not be illegal.

In January 2011, security researcher [[George Hotz|Geohot]] and associates of the hacking group known as ''fail0verflow'' were [[Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. v. Hotz|sued by Sony for jailbreaking the PlayStation 3]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.engadget.com/2011/01/12/sony-follows-up-officially-sues-geohot-and-fail0verflow-over-ps/|title=Sony follows up, officially sues Geohot and fail0verflow over PS3 jailbreak|website=[[Engadget]]|date=12 January 2011|access-date=12 September 2024|archive-date=|archive-url=}}</ref> Sony and Geohot later settled the case out of court, with Geohot agreeing not to reverse engineer any Sony product in the future.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/11/sony-and-playstation-3-jailbreaker-george-hotz-settle-out-of-cou/|title=Sony and PlayStation 3 jailbreaker George Hotz settle out of court}}</ref>

In Japan, softmods were outlawed as part of new legislation in 2018 which made savegame editing and console modding illegal.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/japan-makes-it-illegal-to-mod-consoles/1100-6464178/|title=Japan Makes It Illegal To Mod Consoles|website=[[GameSpot]]|date=10 January 2019|access-date=1 September 2024|archive-date=|archive-url=}}</ref>