After a short-lived return, it appears as though Microsoft has put an end to running emulators on Xbox Series X|S consoles via retail mode for good. The developers behind UWeaPons, the workaround to loading emulators on Xbox's Retail Mode, had their consoles permanently banned by Microsoft. Additionally, users caught using UWeaPons on their system are receiving 15-day suspensions. It's now recommended that if you installed any retail mode emulators, you remove them from your console.

Source

 

[dudeguy2022]

It kinda depends on what those dev mode users get up to.

Why the victim mentality?

Because we at GBAtemp believe in our god-given right to mod our video game consoles, so we don't like it when huge corporations take away our freedoms

 

[smf]

Because we at GBAtemp believe in our god-given right to mod our video game consoles, so we don't like it when huge corporations take away our freedoms

That sounds kind whiny and entitled.

It's all part of the game, if you can't handle it then you're in the wrong scene.

More importantly, trying to find an echo chamber that will listen to your moaning will make no difference to the outcome.

 

[dudeguy2022]

That sounds kind whiny and entitled.

It's all part of the game, if you can't handle it then you're in the wrong scene.

More importantly, trying to find an echo chamber that will listen to your moaning will make no difference to the outcome.

damn I was joking

Also we kind of are entitled to mod our consoles because we own them

 

[gaga941021]

How long do you wanna bet they'll come for Dev Mode users next?

They won't, since Dev Mode emulation is not a problem at this point for 10+ years.
Retail is different problem for companies.

 

[tabzer]

It kinda depends on what those dev mode users get up to.

Why the victim mentality?

I don't think his awareness of a trend and the historical fact that Microsoft has disabled dev mode in the past constitutes as a victim mentality.

People are getting what they pay for. Some sort of contract that has provisions allowing Microsoft to lay on a heavy hand if they decided to be scrutinizing. It could be that everyone playing emulators is breaking the rules, and Microsoft knows, but it's not profitable to go after them, yet. With the releases of paid retro game collections on Xbox, that leverage is building, and is already suspect to be the reason why retail users are getting soft-banned now.

I think there has to be a workaround if Dev mode doesn't require internet to boot. Maybe it means you have to stop going online with the retail mode.

 

[smf]

People are getting what they pay for. Some sort of contract that has provisions allowing Microsoft to lay on a heavy hand if they decided to be scrutinizing. It could be that everyone playing emulators is breaking the rules, and Microsoft knows, but it's not profitable to go after them, yet. With the releases of paid retro game collections on Xbox, that leverage is building, and is already suspect to be the reason why retail users are getting soft-banned now.

They supposedly cancelled some dev mode access by mistake. I don't know of any other cases.

His comment was "coming after dev mode", as in they are going to take everyone's dev mode away and not just those microsoft have detected are running certain apps.

If they wanted to go after certain apps, then they have access to them as much as you do to detect them.

 

[AndorfRequissa]

this is good evidence into why a CEO cannot be believed no matter what they say because they are soulless entities. i remember just a short time ago when MSneeded people to buy their consoles the CEO welcomed emulation and made comments that they wouldnt treat gamers like criminals. well we are now back to gamers getting treated like criminals where even if they do buy something that cannot do what they what with it because the device is not owned by them just leased by some contract that they can do whatever they want to u no matter what uve paid. there CEO is a public liar and should never be believed again even on the most basic of statements people should push back against him because his word means nothing.

gamers in the 80/90s where developers were still focused on entertainment had it alot better than gamers today. now developers focus on how to manipulate u to spend money and what they can do to control you to force follow there way. there is no freedom in gaming anymore unless the gamer exercises their freedom of will. when you only live once what I dont get is why has society been designed to limit what you can expierence in that one life. they dont want you to expierence more gaming. they want you to spend more money and dont care if you are entertained or not.

something has to change and until gamers and good people start pointing out and not accepting the evil soulless tactics these companies take to turn you into a slave who cannot experience free will.

dont be a slave. be creative and have fun you only get one chance to live. dont be a lemming and listen to these lying CEO's or companies.

If tesla would have listened we wouldnt have DC or alot of better designed tech. Look throughout history and the Gallileo's and true humans who exercised free will against the evil who want to control your life so u never exercize free will any never go outside of the boundaries they set.


the last thing i will say in my rant is that we have reached a point in society where so much has been created already that most companies are riding off the creation and IP of others that they only true ownership they hold over these creations most the time are $$ and paperwork. You wont be able to create anything or do anything without the approval of these people who most the time never had anything to do with the original creation. Like westinghouse and tesla all over and soceity hasn't learned its lesson so be prepared to be limited in evolution and human advancement and achievement because you do not have freedom to create without approval. with approval you can only create or do what they have approved you to do. nothing more nothing less. we wouldnt have windshield wippers or many things created if the past used this philosophy. but once created windshield wippers they were then designed for $$ not for effective use. How many people have to replace cheaply designed windshield wippers but if they tried to get into industry to build an honest one that is built well and not designed to keep them in business by wearing down so you have to repeat buy to keep them in business.

 

[tabzer]

They supposedly cancelled some dev mode access by mistake. I don't know of any other cases.

His comment was "coming after dev mode", as in they are going to take everyone's dev mode away and not just those microsoft have detected are running certain apps.

Ah. I interpreted in the context of this thread's discussion that the users getting banned are those who use emulators.

If they wanted to go after certain apps, then they have access to them as much as you do to detect them.

They can do that for Retail Mode too, but that didn't stop them from banning people.

For further context, I'm reading over this thread and watching some youtube videos posted about it: Microsoft Disabling Dev Mode Access (pg 5)

 

[tech3475]

They supposedly cancelled some dev mode access by mistake. I don't know of any other cases.

His comment was "coming after dev mode", as in they are going to take everyone's dev mode away and not just those microsoft have detected are running certain apps.

If they wanted to go after certain apps, then they have access to them as much as you do to detect them.

The way I look at Dev Mode is like a ‘wink’ from MS, they‘ll know people aren’t just debugging stuff and their ToS includes provisions which effectively make it useless for non-devs e.g. active presence on the store.

The ‘accident’ was likely someone at MS actually enforcing said ToS without taking the former into account e.g. Running a script on the DB.

As for whether they’ll actually target Dev Mode, as of now I’m doubtful, unless something happens e.g. an unpatchable exploit or the mode becomes extremely popular for non-retail mode gaming reasons (I.e. mass buying of hardware but not any Xbox games, etc.).

 

[smf]

The ‘accident’ was likely someone at MS actually enforcing said ToS without taking the former into account e.g. Running a script on the DB.

I've never read their TOS but that seems possible.

They probably should do that, we might then see an actual xbox exploit.

 

[Ondrashek06]

Despite the many times where Nintendo has tried to change this, emulation is COMPLETELY LEGAL. It's simply a way to play games initially intended for different hardware - nothing less, nothing more.

Obtaining the ROMs needed to make use of these emulators is another story. People might either be perfectly honest and only play the games that they dumped themselves, or they might go the "yarr harr" route.

But banning emulators because your MIGHT play pirated games on it has the same energy as banning knives because you MIGHT stab someone with them, banning pillows because you MIGHT suffocate someone with them or banning rope because you MIGHT strangle someone with them.

And before you start arguing about "it's just $20 to use devmode", you should know that they're essentially charging for extended access to hardware that YOU BOUGHT AND OWN. Remember complaining about Tesla disabling hardware features through software so they can charge exorbitant prices for what's essentially setting a flag in the firmware? This is very similar to that.

 

[emmanu888]

People saying they could go for dev mode next.
They won't, its a sandbox.

You don't show up as playing emulators online when in dev mode and you can't run retail apps in dev mode.

 

[n00bsaib0t]

Despite the many times where Nintendo has tried to change this, emulation is COMPLETELY LEGAL. It's simply a way to play games initially intended for different hardware - nothing less, nothing more.

Obtaining the ROMs needed to make use of these emulators is another story. People might either be perfectly honest and only play the games that they dumped themselves, or they might go the "yarr harr" route.

But banning emulators because your MIGHT play pirated games on it has the same energy as banning knives because you MIGHT stab someone with them, banning pillows because you MIGHT suffocate someone with them or banning rope because you MIGHT strangle someone with them.

And before you start arguing about "it's just $20 to use devmode", you should know that they're essentially charging for extended access to hardware that YOU BOUGHT AND OWN. Remember complaining about Tesla disabling hardware features through software so they can charge exorbitant prices for what's essentially setting a flag in the firmware? This is very similar to that.

This is such a fundamentally dishonest argument. Running unsigned code is running unsigned code. Pretending this is about emulation and not shutting down an exploit that ultimately would lead to side loading full retail games is just crap. I get it, you want emulators. Put CFW on a PS3 or something. Microsoft is under no obligation to let you play the PS2 version of Red Dead Revolver on your Series console instead of buying the OG Xbox version from the store, especially when we all know damn well it would lead to people running Xbox Series games without having to pay for them. This place LOVES the "I'm not pirating, this is all legal, I dumped my own games!" routine, I get it, but that's not at all what this is. Stop lying about it.

 

[HarveyHouston]

No, it's always been no.

https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/games-apps/game-setup-and-play/enable-pc-game-mods - Literally guidelines and other info on using mods for Xbox on PC.
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-confirms-mod-support-for-microsoft-store-games-on-pc/ - An article from 2020 about Microsoft allowing mods.

So, not always no.

 

[tabzer]

You don't show up as playing emulators online when in dev mode and you can't run retail apps in dev mode.

Regarding telemetry data and logs, Microsoft collects telemetry from Xbox consoles as part of its services. Telemetry data helps Microsoft understand how users interact with their products, identify potential issues, and improve the overall user experience. This telemetry data is collected regardless of whether Developer Mode is active or not.

 

[Subtle Demise]

Since this article lacks a source:


Additionally, people uploading retail emulators risk having their console permanently banned, unlike the 15-day suspensions people have been receiving for using emulators on retail mode.


I despise the state of the video game industry at the moment.

You all realize you can just sideload apps into Dev Mode right?

 

[SonyUSA]

Get a VPN take a magical ride to Turkey, makes dev account cheaper

Swapping back and forth to Dev account is such a pain in the ass, I just load retroarch onto my FireTV/FireStick 4k MAX and call it a day now-- 5v and can play up to PS1 no problems.

 

[G33ksquad]

Swapping back and forth to Dev account is such a pain in the ass, I just load retroarch onto my FireTV/FireStick 4k MAX and call it a day now-- 5v and can play up to PS1 no problems.

yea it sure is, I was able to grab multiple consoles during the Verizon $150 deal, but yea it’s easier to have something designated to dev mode and another for retail. So I do understand the desire for these emulators in retail mode

 

[JeepX87]

Ban on Xbox remind me of old Xbox 360 day.

Too many people received ban on Xbox 360.

 

[Osakasan]

If tesla would have listened we wouldnt have DC or alot of better designed tech.

I... don't think Tesla is a good example, nor anything ever touched by Elon Musk