Xbox Bans Emulators in Retail Mode... | MVG

Xbox has banned the use of UWP apps including emulators and certain homebrew running under Retail mode on the Xbox One and Xbox Series line of consoles. This is a blow to the emulation community but all is not lost. In this episode we discuss what happened, why and what the future holds.

Social Media Links :

#Xbox #Emulators #UWP

[theredblooper]

I had a feeling using Retail Mode for emulation was flying a bit too close to the sun, but its still sad to see it not supported any more.

[TiJayFLY]

6:26 This is what bothered me too. Delisting from stores is fine, but disabling existing apps on a user's machine is not cool.

[Dargor]

You really don't want to motivate hackers to go after your console. From what I've see, when it comes to piracy, the harder someone makes it, the more motivated pirates are.

[RetroTechCorner]

The real problem here is that MS can effectively disable any game/application you have on your system. Slowly but surely they pretty much killed physical ownership and now they can kill "digital ownership" as they wish. It's game over for game preservation, collecting etc. Sad.

[andocobo]

Blocking apps which breach their ToS and removing games just because they’re old or whatever are two VERY different issues

[stealfromwork]

I agree that MS being able to block already installed applications this way is concerning. Might even be the real headline here.

[nebiyumeseret]

The only annoying thing about dev mode is the default settings that asks you if you want to delete all of your files when exiting. Other than that, I started using it for about 2 weeks now and have been loving it. Still unfortunate this has happened but makes sense.

[sIosha]

Wow they actually called out Nintendo. I was expecting the typical non-answer.

[DammitJeff]

This is why I never advocated for retail mode when it comes to emulators! While it's very clear cut from MS's side that Dev mode is free rein, Retail mode has never had that same promise, so this was inevitable from the beginning. Still totally worth it to install Dev mode though! I still transition between modes pretty seamlessly.

[alex.starostin]

I have a feeling emulators will be back on retail pretty soon in one way or another

[startedtech]

I had a feeling this was going to happen ever since it was first possible. Just seemed inevitable

[armstrong]

I had thought Dev mode was the only way to utilize homebrew emulators.

I haven't looked into dev mode on my Xbox One X but may start looking into that soon!

[JoshF]

I can't lie, I suspected this would happen when the standalone Dolphin and the PS2 emulator were released. it was so good, and also so easy that I wondered how long MS would allow it. I have the same concern with Dolphin coming to Steam - if emulation gets too big, too easy and too widespread, that's what's going to motivate the likes of Nintendo to step up their efforts to shut it down entirely. It almost needs to stay inconvenient enough that only enthusiasts will bother with it.

[paulbrooks]

We so often come back to the problem of ownership in digital media. Anything that has an online-required component—even if the totality of the code is on the machine—can be blocked, deleted, or banned from your system. This is beyond absurd.

In the enterprise space, you can use things indefinitely with many hardware ir software packages, but if you don’t pay for support, you don’t get updates or vendor help. That’s fine. You literally get what you pay for and it’s yours.

Too many companies have put retail products behind license server logins on run. Single player games that run the AI and store player data server-side only are just galling. The situation just plain sucks for anyone who travels, or has any issues with local networking/services. It makes what would be a good game experience either bad or impossible. And this all sidesteps issues of rights ending, companies going out of business, and planned obsolescence.

[systemmonitor]

With Dolphin coming to Steam, what if Microsoft starts listing emulators in their Microsoft Store as standalone apps?

[RacerX-]

As you said, this was inevitable. EMU devs found a loophole and exploited it. Did anyone really think that MS was not going to plug the loophole? It's a shame but totally expected.

[dewottmaster]

It's always Nintendo that pulls the plug on people having good fun, that's why I stick to Dolphin on the PC since then, Nintendo can't do a thing but cry as they kiss my ass.

[GrigorEftimov]

Nintendo is literally the Karen of videogames.

[retrogamer]

When Xenia was added that crossed the line. Microsoft got aggressive because it’s own console was being emulated

[StudiosUntold]

Tips from someone that uses Dev Mode with zero issues:

1. Use Safe Exit to leave Dev Mode. Everytime.

2. Never use the internal storage for your side loaded apps

3. Use a USB 3.0 drive. I have a 128GB drive and it has more than enough space for all of my games and files

4. Go to settings and change your default menu to Retail Mode. This will make your Xbox have the normal home screen when you go into Dev Mode instead of the Dev Home.