I don’t get why Nintendo doesn’t just hire these people. You’d want these talented people on your team and they probably know the hardware/software better than people in the company.
That's the basic equation for most Japanese companies IMO. They'll still hire "genius" type people in specific positions, but probably not random hackers that have a strong sense of not playing by the rules (of course not everyone in the homebrew community is like that, and I'd expect there's actual hirings happening with the more team oriented members)
PS: I think another cultural element to this is, the "brilliant jerk" stereotype is way less pervasive, and you'll already find within Nintendo's hiring pool crazy talented people who are also extremely good team players with decent social skills. That makes it all the more harder to hire wild ninja rockstars.
https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Christian_Whitehead#:~:text=Ch....
Meanwhile; my friends in the Mario and Metroid hacking scene would constantly be hit with cease and desist orders from Nintendo, and some absolutely insane projects have been basically DOA and had to go underground. It’s quite a bit sad.
They called me once, in 2015, asking if we could collaborate on Wii U security in some way. I was flattered but decided it would be against my morals.