Comment by RajT88

From what my memory recalls, the PS2 era was when Sony started going after companies which made not just modchips, but any kind of device which let gamers use their consoles in ways they did not like. Think: Adapters which let you use PS2 controllers on an Xbox and vice versa.

Lik-Sang was (again as I recall) the primary target of all this, and was eventually forced to shut down. They were definitely the single best place to buy console modding and other weird and crazy accessories from Asia.

After the first volley, Sony and the rest started going after the smaller players, the local console modders, the ROM hosting sites, eventually even the hackers who discovered vulnerabilities themselves. 2002 was when they came for Lik-Sang and it had an immediate chilling effect, and they shut down as of 2006.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lik_Sang

By the way - chipping services still operate, but they have a lot of ways of flying not under the radar exactly, but operating in ways which make it not worth it for Sony, Nintendo from going after them. Doing their manufacturing in China (of course), sales from various parts of eastern Europe, and the direct modding services being super-small time modders operating off local sites like OfferUp, Craigslist, or sometimes even eBay. It's overwhelmingly previous generation consoles they offer services for.