2026 has barely begun, and already one of the most unexpected gaming stories of the year has emerged — not because of a new game announcement, but because of an obscure Star Wars title suddenly becoming one of the most expensive discs on the second-hand market.
For years, Star Wars Racer Revenge — a high-speed podracing sequel originally released in 2002 on PlayStation 2 and re-released for PS4 in 2019 — was a relatively quiet part of the Star Wars legacy. Its PS4 port from Limited Run Games was always rare, but until recently it was a budget title that popped up on eBay for about $20–$50. That has all changed in the last week.
A Bug Becomes a Bidding War
The trigger wasn’t nostalgia or a sudden surge in fan interest. It was a rumor from the PS5 homebrew and hacking scene about a way to use the PS4 Racer Revenge disc to jailbreak the PlayStation 5 — specifically targeting the console’s upcoming 12.00 firmware update. Kotaku
Hackers have reportedly found that a bug in the Racer Revenge PS4 port’s Hall of Fame menu allows code injection into the PS5 system via backward compatibility. Because this exploit lives on the physical disc and hasn’t been patched in the digital version, owning a PS4 physical copy suddenly became much more than owning a game—it became a potential key to unlocking system-level access.
That means a disc once worth pocket change has turned into a collector’s goldmine — or a hacker’s treasure.
From $20 to Nearly $500
As resellers and collectors realized the exploit might be real, prices began climbing dramatically. Listings for Star Wars: Racer Revenge PS4 copies on eBay and similar marketplaces have gone from everyday budget prices to hundreds of dollars — with some reaching as high as $399 or more within days. Tom’s Hardware
Part of the reason is simple economics: Limited Run Games only produced about 8,500 copies of the physical edition. With demand now coming from multiple directions — collectors, jailbreakers, and scalpers — supply can’t keep up.
That shortage has led to a feeding frenzy among resellers hoping to capitalize on both the rarity and the rumor.
So Is the Exploit Real?
This is where the story gets messy.
At the moment, the supposed PS5 jailbreak method tied to Racer Revenge hasn’t been publicly released as a working tool. The developer behind the code — known by the handle Gezine — has teased that the exploit exists and is being polished, but it’s not yet widely available to end users.
Even once it is released, there’s significant debate in the wider homebrew scene about how useful it will be in practice. While the ROM key leak at the end of 2025 gave security researchers more leverage, actual full jailbreaking — meaning stable custom firmware or unrestricted software installation — might remain a long way off.
Put simply: mere possession of the disc doesn’t guarantee a simple jailbreaking solution tomorrow. But for now, gamers and hackers alike are betting it will help get there.
The Collector Effect
Of course, this isn’t the first time obscure games have ballooned in price due to unexpected demand drivers. Rare releases, canceled games, limited editions, and even pulled demos have all seen similar spikes when the market suddenly realizes a title is both rare and useful for purposes outside normal gameplay.
What makes this situation unusual is that the utility isn’t traditional gameplay — it’s about tinkering with hardware unlocks.
That means the people bidding $300–$400 on Racer Revenge might include:
- Retro Star Wars collectors
- PS5 jailbreakers chasing an exploit
- Resellers looking to cash in on perceived demand
The result is an unpredictable resale landscape, with prices that have quadrupled or more in just a few days.
What This Means for Gamers and Sony
For average players, this trend likely won’t affect their gaming experience directly. If the PS5 jailbreak ultimately becomes widely usable, it could open doors to homebrew apps, emulators, and custom firmware — but it would also violate Sony’s terms of service and potentially risk hardware bans or other consequences.
For Sony, this might become another case study in how physical media and backward compatibility can intersect with security vulnerabilities in unexpected ways.
And for collectors? Rare gaming pressings may never be the same again.
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