[adesanmi]

Xim users destroying the integrity of multiplayer FPS causes this, unfortunately.

The fact of the matter is if you’re allowed to plug in any peripheral into a game console, you can and will get prolific cheaters in a multiplayer environment.

Maybe only bring in this check if your console is not in offline mode? And please make it cheap to actually get certified.

Regular accessories that don’t alter gameplay can and should always be an option for a user. If a certification process has to happen to use the accessory online, so be it, but I hope this doesn’t hurt the market too much.

Edit: I’m aware that Xim currently uses controller authentication to work and therefore this specific change may not affect it. I wasn’t claiming that this would get rid of Xim, but arguing that a huge reason for this change is to begin the process of cracking down on rampant cheating in online multiplayer games (shooters in particular).

[bloqs]

Except that you have fundamentally misunderstood, like so many who decide to defend big corps, the actual impact.

XIM and similar tools are grey market - they do not care for compliance, nor do they mind breaking the terms of service to work. Thats the entire fucking point. They are workarounds for people wanting to either cheat or who want to hack their device for greater freedom of input.

These people will.be unhindered by this change, because XIM has an excellent history of spoofing a controllers input to the console. The people who will really miss out are the younger or poorer people who will have cheaper 3rd party controllers or unofficial adapters. Less freedom for the user. More money for corpos.

Sometimes I wonder if this is hackernews or corponews

[adesanmi]

Everyone who makes this kind of comment must not play video games online.

The "money play" is a cut on digital sales, and balancing subscription fees with the cost of services rendered. I can't imagine how little they make on accessories/certification to be the reason behind this move. I think this is the start of set of changes that culminates in hardware verification for the (leaked) revision of the console.

> because XIM has an excellent history of spoofing a controllers input to the console

That it does now, but Microsoft can upload firmware to their devices and have full control of the software it runs on.

Call of Duty is one of their biggest games, and I think being a platform that nullfies Xim and Cronus will convince people to play those games on that platform, especially with Crossplay off and the games being free on Game Pass. This makes more sense as a "money maker" to me (i.e. fuelling Game Pass subs).

[spicyjpeg]

Microsoft will happily sell you a fully certified controller breakout box [1] into which you can plug whatever you want, including your cheating device of choice. Sure, devices like Xim might be cheaper and more convenient, but cheaters are clearly not the main target of this move.

[1] https://www.xbox.com/en-US/accessories/controllers/xbox-adap...

[ZunarJ5]

Couldn't game designers make a toggle that the game won't run with unofficial hardware? Seems like it's a bit overkill if this was simply the problem.

[robertlagrant]

> Maybe only bring in this check if your console is not in offline mode?

Or only if you're playing a multiplayer game?

[piaste]

Leave that up to the game devs. Expose a platform API call with all relevant information about the accessories currently plugged into the console.

That way a game can check that API whenever cheating matters for that particular game - which may mean different things: playing with strangers, playing certain 'competitive' modes, getting achievements or high scores, etc.

[robertlagrant]

That would be the best outcome, I agree.