GoKawiilCounterfeit Blu-ray drives flood Newegg and AliExpress, RPCS3 team warns
RPCS3 developers have alerted PS3 emulation fans to a surge of fake Blu-ray drives being sold on Newegg, AliExpress and other retailers. These drives use the packaging, casings and spoofed firmware of legitimate high-end models but contain older, incompatible internals that cannot read PS3 discs properly.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The report suggests that as genuine high-quality Blu-ray drives grow scarcer, counterfeiters are exploiting demand from retro gaming and media preservation communities who need specific drive models to rip or play original discs. Even the suggested verification method using MakeMKV and chipset identification is reportedly unreliable, meaning buyers could still end up with unusable hardware despite taking precautions.
- Fake Blu-ray drives mimicking premium models are being sold on major retail platforms like Newegg and AliExpress.
- The counterfeits use spoofed firmware and authentic-looking packaging but contain older, incompatible drive internals.
- Verifying authenticity via the MT1959 chipset using MakeMKV is not a guaranteed way to avoid fakes.
Source: techspot.com — Alfonso Maruccia, 2026-10-02
Published there as: “Scammers are selling fake Blu-ray drives to PS3 emulation fans”
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