Microsoft to start blocking "unauthorized" peripherals

[goodtofufriday]

Summary

In a decision thats makes sense to no one, Xbox will no longer allow for unaithorized peripherals to work with the platform.
Places that make their own peripherals such as Brook gaming will have their devices blocked from working on the system. 

https://x.com/brookgamingfans/status/1715337068401021284?s=20

 

Quotes

Quote

• From November 12, 2023, Microsoft will no longer allow unauthorized third-party accessories to be used with its Xbox consoles.
• Players are reporting a warning message displaying on Xbox when plugging in unauthorized accessories, notifying them of the date their accessories will be blocked with "error 0x82d60002." 
• Xbox advises returning the accessory and instead referring to its list of authorized products on its website.
• The message is shown due to the latest console build, which is said to be causing console issues when using these third-party accessories. 

 

My thoughts

 More cash grabs by MS. Been a slope ever since the Xbox ONE tried to do always online for ALL games. This will lock out a lot of third party accesibility controllers, especially if the creators cant afford to pay what ever license MS is going to look to get for this.
I see Nintendo following suit, but pretty surprised that sony didnt do this first. They may stay away to be competative, especially after the MS/Activision merger. 

 

Sources

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/xboxs-new-policy-say-goodbye-to-unofficial-accessories-after-november

[BrandonLatzig]

I see this more as a way to counter devices like XIM, which have been hampering people's game experiences for years at this point

[starsmine]

I imagine this has more to do with the amount of cheating devices out now on consoles. I know activision bans you now over many of them, but this solution would work for all games.

This probably does suck a lot for accessibility accessories

[Stahlmann]

I could see it making sense for select games that are prone to cheating, like shooters. But for everything else, why?

[NobleGamer]

17 minutes ago, starsmine said:

This probably does suck a lot for accessibility accessories

Except the ones that Microsoft develops

[Kisai]

24 minutes ago, starsmine said:

I imagine this has more to do with the amount of cheating devices out now on consoles. I know activision bans you now over many of them, but this solution would work for all games.

This probably does suck a lot for accessibility accessories

This is likely the real answer.

 

Game controllers with built in "cheats" and other kinds of "turbo button" type of things, which have literately existed since the NES/Sega Master System.

 

That said, if this is what they were aiming to do, they should have done this on day 1. Not 3 years later. Yes. We are already 3 years into the product cycle of a product that typically only has a 5 mainstream year life cycle (10 from original release to EOL/Discontinued. Nintendo has had shorter console lives after the SNES which had 13 years. The Wii for 11 (though it lost some of it's features.) GC and Wii U only had 5 each)

 

I feel that the durability problem of the Xbox 360 probably has something to do with people maybe being a bit "WTF" here. I used my Xbox 360 controller until it quite literately fell apart, the WIRED one. Like last year, and I replaced with the Stadia controller, which conveniently was basically destined to be a paperweight at that point. It's not the best controller, but it was there, and has the xbox oriented button labels. Somehow the Xbox 360 controllers were a lot more solid than the dang console, which anyone who bought into the 360, likely had to buy two or three of them.

 

Until that happened I was already set on buying a Xbox controller, and opted not to, since I wasn't set on buying an Xbox Series console. I needed it for the PC only. Since I bought two Stadia controllers and I don't REALLY need more controllers (I still have the two original wireless controllers that came with the Xbox 360 that I never used as well) I kinda felt like I would just be wasting money. Meanwhile I HAD TO buy a Switch Pro controller because the Joycons are murder on my thumbs.

 

Anyhow, if Microsoft is going to pull this, they better be putting lifetime warranty on the controllers, because there is no way in heck that people are going to replace expensive controllers if they can only use Microsoft's.

[starsmine]

4 minutes ago, NobleGamer said:

Except the ones that Microsoft develops

which are good, just not all of them. 

[Holmes108]

Good for cheat devices, bad for people with regular unauthorized controllers I guess. 

 

I suppose I'm out of the loop, I didn't know there were unauthorized controllers that worked, in general. Is this a big market? (regular controllers that aren't unauthorized, not cheat devices). I guess I just assume that any 3rd party controllers I see on, say, Amazon are authorized. I suppose I just assumed there was some sort of "drm" on this already.

[BobVonBob]

5 minutes ago, Holmes108 said:

I suppose I'm out of the loop, I didn't know there were unauthorized controllers that worked, in general. Is this a big market? (regular controllers that aren't unauthorized, not cheat devices).

Wired controllers didn't need to be authorized, and unauthorized wireless controllers used their own dongles to mimic wired controllers. Both of those skirted Microsoft's licensing fees. That's what Microsoft is cracking down on.

Gotta squeeze more blood from this stone somehow. Such is the way of things in 2023.

[jaslion]

49 minutes ago, BrandonLatzig said:

I see this more as a way to counter devices like XIM, which have been hampering people's game experiences for years at this point

They already are getting around it by emulating a controller and having a working handshake. You simply aren't stopping cheats just making it harder to detect

 

It's just a way against cheating however this will mess up lots of people that got cheap amazon special non certified 3rd party controllers and such.

[YoungBlade]

10 minutes ago, Holmes108 said:

Good for cheat devices, bad for people with regular unauthorized controllers I guess. 

 

I suppose I'm out of the loop, I didn't know there were unauthorized controllers that worked, in general. Is this a big market? (regular controllers that aren't unauthorized, not cheat devices). I guess I just assume that any 3rd party controllers I see on, say, Amazon are authorized. I suppose I just assumed there was some sort of "drm" on this.

Unauthorized controllers are able to be sold for less money for a number of reasons. A big one is, obviously, Microsoft charges to authorize the device. It's also that you can keep using a physically older version of the controller. Setup fees for manufacturing are no joke, and if you can make the new controller guts that you need fit into the same shell that you've been making for years, that saves you a lot of money. However, I'm guessing that Microsoft wouldn't authorize it for the Series S/X unless it used the smaller form factor of the new controller. That means making new injection molds, retooling equipment, redoing all your QC work, etc. and that costs a ton of money, all to make the controller just a bit smaller so that it can get that Microsoft rubber stamp.

 

To play devil's advocate, though, an advantage to a locked down ecosystem is that you can have mandatory QC requirements, so if the Microsoft Authorized label means anything, you won't be buying a controller that's going to break down in 6 months, and they won't authorize cheating devices that can give players an unfair advantage in games. I have no idea how good Microsoft is at certifying products - maybe they suck at it, or maybe they're amazing at it - but if they do a good job, this could prove to be an overall win for gamers. We shall see.

 

But regardless, it will hurt anyone who has already invested into cheaper/different controllers and devices that they may like well enough or even prefer over the originals.

[Needfuldoer]

1 hour ago, goodtofufriday said:

in a decision thats makes sense to no one

It does to Microsoft's accountants!

 

Just like their decision to suddenly stop letting Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 keys activate Windows 10 and 11.

[Quackers101]

very bad depending on where it goes. input verification could be a nice thing.

Also that games themselves will choose and not all hardware for the sake of it.

[DANK_AS_gay]

1 hour ago, Needfuldoer said:

It does to Microsoft's accountants!

 

Just like their decision to suddenly stop letting Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 keys activate Windows 10 and 11.

Not that you need keys to activate windows anymore lol

[jagdtigger]

12 minutes ago, DANK_AS_gay said:

Not that you need keys to activate windows anymore lol

Doesnt change the point, it wont let you reactivate even on the same machine if activation is triggered......

/ON
Beancunters are at it again.......

[Mark Kaine]

11 hours ago, starsmine said:

I imagine this has more to do with the amount of cheating devices out now on consoles. I know activision bans you now over many of them, but this solution would work for all games.

This probably does suck a lot for accessibility accessories

the point is tho... "unauthorized" ... which means you can still sell accessories with official licensing... just no usb controller connector thingies cheat devices...

 

if Sony doesn't follow suit that could actually backfire on them, i already don't want to play with console players because I know how easy it is to use cheats on consoles  (ironically)

 

 

[captain_to_fire]

So it's an "Apple MFi certification" but Xbox style

[williamcll]

Unfortunate, but I guess it's an easier way than software anti-cheat.

 

Wonder would that break a lot of normal 3rd party controllers though?

[Monkey Dust]

So the hardware cheat devices will now contain bits of authentic Xbox controller. I hope Nintendo don't do this, the 3rd party controllers are so much better for retro 2D games. 

[Kisai]

2 hours ago, Monkey Dust said:

So the hardware cheat devices will now contain bits of authentic Xbox controller. I hope Nintendo don't do this, the 3rd party controllers are so much better for retro 2D games. 

I doubt this is going to result in 8bitdo to stop making controllers. They're basically just bluetooth controllers.

 

 

[dimforest]

Out of curiosity - what are some actual commonly used peripherals that would be affected by this? Not some fringe knock-off controller from China, but something widely sold and purchased. 

[VanayadGaming]

lol... "microsoft" please say Xbox, otherwise people will think of Microsoft Windows.

[jagdtigger]

Just now, VanayadGaming said:

lol... "microsoft" please say Xbox, otherwise people will think of Microsoft Windows.

One and the same, the xbox is just a glorified PC at this point running a locked down version of windows.....

[VanayadGaming]

On 11/12/2023 at 12:44 PM, jagdtigger said:

One and the same, the xbox is just a glorified PC at this point running a locked down version of windows.....

No it is not. Few people when they hear "Microsoft blocks unauthorized peripherals" think: "Ah, so you mean Xbox is not allowed to have unauthorized peripherals". They will think. "Wait, Microsoft doesn't allow me to put a random keyboard / monitor/whatever I got into my PC?!"

[Emberstone]

On 11/11/2023 at 6:09 PM, dimforest said:

Out of curiosity - what are some actual commonly used peripherals that would be affected by this? Not some fringe knock-off controller from China, but something widely sold and purchased. 

A bit late, but fighting game players use all kinds of different controllers (arcade sticks, Hotboxes, Mixboxes, keyboards, etc.) and this will effectively destroy those communities on Xbox unless you're one of the few competitive people who use a stock Xbox controller for games like Guilty Gear Strive or SF6.

 

For comfort reasons, it will make fighting games unplayable on Xbox for many people. When you're used to an input method, and you've been playing fighting games for years using that input method, it's INCREDIBLY difficult to change.

 

I play on PC thankfully, but I cannot play fighting games without my arcade stick. Makes me feel bad for the FGC on Xbox.