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Xbox has taken a definitive stance by instituting a new policy that will block the use of unauthorized accessories with its consoles, effective as of November 17.
This decision has already begun to reverberate amongst the gaming community, and many have already had a warning about it on their consoles in the form of error message 0x82d60002.
It’s a big shift that’s going to impact all those accessories that don’t have the Xbox seal of approval. Made more apparent by Xbox redirecting the user to its own official storefront.
Our sources indicate that Microsoft is lifting restrictions on the ability for third-party hardware manufacturers to build wireless accessories for Xbox Series X|S devices.
Now, we’re hearing that Microsoft does have an approval process for official third-party wireless controllers, and this new restriction may be a result of new security measures to put restrictions on inputs that could circumvent play or inject unfair advantages.
The downside, of course, is that Xbox’s new policy is affecting many “fair” accessories, particularly in the case of fighting game joysticks and other similar accessories.
The problem seems to revolve around brands that haven’t acquired this licensing but still market their products as compatible with Xbox. It appears that Microsoft is actively blocking these items.
oh no my DRM machine is adding more DRM
Do they realize this may be the only way some people can legally play the games? I can imagine lots of disabilities that only let people play with a niche controller
I’ve never been one to play competitive online games since I have the hand/ eye coordination of a house plant, so I can’t weigh in on the advantages of blocking controllers that are “unfair”; but as someone who hated button mashing “A” in Animal Crossing, I can say that custom controllers can definitely have a place with a console.
In my opinion, this feels like Microsoft simply wanted more licensing money and is doing it under the guise of fair online play. It reminds me of Apple locking faster charging and data transfer on USB-C to their own proprietary USB cables.
Hopefully this does not negatively affect too many people.
The unfair advantage argument definitely holds water, mouse and keyboard can be like a sports car racing against a bicycle. But if someone had the budget to tackle this issue through software, it would be Microsoft. So I’m inclined to agree that it’s mostly just MS squeezing money out of third party manufacturers.
If they’d care only about the “unfair”, they’d put a fair, almost free, price on the official license that covers the cost of testing or whatever. Truth presumably here is also a bit more complicated, maybe third party controllers could be easier to hack resulting in an ineffective licensing system, idk. But yeah smells like money for Microsoft and a loss for consumers.
Wouldn’t the unfair advantage only hold water if they blocked unauthorized accessories only with online multi-player games and leave single-player experiences alone?
That’s honestly an incredibly good solution.
One thing that kinda sprang to mind was accessible controllers. Ik Microsoft makes one and I’m sure there’s some approved but my thoughts are what if it doesn’t serve your needs
I’m tired so hopefully this makes sense
Enshittification advances. Consoles already are the prime example of devices that act as if they are still owned by the company rather than the customer, but they somehow find even more ways to make it worse…
maybe they should block the accessory when trying to play online, not by default.
Or just allow them always. It’s about the money, not about cheating. Also many games these days have cross play with PC anyways, where you can literally use a modified toaster as a controller if you want to lol.
I highly doubt Microsoft is scared of this guy
I assure you, the devs at MS are kept awake at night, feverishly sweating over the potential this device has wrought
I dare say I shit my pants a little at how bananas it is
They didn’t even send him a seize and desist letter
Just think about the potential, any combination of fruits could be a controller. This could spell the end of non-produce controllers.
the problem is that there are some really good devices on the market that essentially let players cheat in shooters, getting mouse-like input while retaining the game’s built-in aim assist features.
really the best compromise would be to let game developers decide whether unlicensed input devices can be used in their games (just like how they can choose whether to support m+kb). then shooters could impose reasonable restrictions without fucking over the fighting game community.
Microsoft sure loves blocking things from its game console nobody actually wants to use in the first place. Who exactly is going to want to buy a license to make video game controllers for the system that’s last place in the console wars? Specialty controllers like the Neo-Geo click stick by 8BitDo are almost sure to be released for major formats, but NOT Xbox, if 8BitDo has to pay an extortionate fee for a license.
Accessibility. People who can’t grab or use an XBOX controller with their hands need to use custom controllers, including things like foot pedals.
Microsoft makes those for Xbox
The 8BitDo stuff is what I had in mind as well. Everything I have from them has Xinput mode, and works great for PC Game Pass and Xcloud games. I was hoping that anything that supports Xinput would be available on the actual consoles, but walled garden.
Have you tried the Neo-Geo click stick? If so, how good is it?
Still waiting for it to arrive. I got it for half off on Woot, and got in just in time to grab a Mai!
Ownership is only possible for large corporations. The individual cannot own anything.
Seems like any customer rights now only exist in direct defiance of corporations and whatever unreasonable unilateral rules they set without consulting anyone else.
Just cancelled my XBox Ultimate Game Pass…bunch of nonsense.
Oh nooo. I’m going to be devastated all the way over here on my Linux desktop and steam.
Ugh I’m really tired of buying hardware. GeforceNow looks better every day…
Big fan of GFN
I’ve already used it to play the hell out of anno 1800, better than any 2k machine would have.
Baldur’s gate 3 for me while I waited for the mac release. Valheim before that. I only use it for probably three or four months a year, but I got the founders rate at five dollars a month so it’s more than worth it to keep paying for it.
Looks like this is the “fuck Chronus” update
About time
Microsoft doing Microsoft things, classic.
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In a significant development for Xbox users, the era of tinkering with your console to use unapproved accessories is drawing to a close.
I asked for a photo of the controller, and I’m not surprised it didn’t work, given the included adapter looks like something you get for free at the bottom of a box of cereal.
we have received player feedback concerning these products when used on Xbox consoles (the latest OS version 10.0.25398.2266. released on 10/16) during online gameplay.
Brook Gaming’s statement highlights a series of issues that have been plaguing third-party, unlicensed accessories, particularly since the rollout of console build 10.0.25398.2266, which was released on October 16.
As of right now, we haven’t seen any evidence that these types of accessories will be affected by the recent changes since Xbox has historically been unable to detect them, but we’re investigating.
Our sources indicate that Microsoft is lifting restrictions on the ability for third-party hardware manufacturers to build wireless accessories for Xbox Series X|S devices.
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