Microsoft dealt fans a shock today when they banned the use of emulators on the Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles. Emulators are software programs that allow users to play games from other consoles and systems on their computer or console. Users discovered that the emulators they downloaded from the Xbox store no longer worked.

Players encountered the message “The game or app you’re trying to launch violates Microsoft Store policy and is not supported.” when they tried to launch their favorite titles. Microsoft has not given an official reason for the ban, but some speculate that it is to prevent piracy and protect intellectual property rights.

Xbox emulator ban may be due to Nintendo

Despite no official announcement of the ban from Xbox, one Twitter user has alleged that they were told of the ban by a Microsoft colleague. Twitter user @AlyannaMcKenna, who works in Microsoft’s Azure division, posted the contents of an email allegedly sent from a friend who works at Xbox QA.

The “primary reason for the ban is related to legal issues with Nintendo,” according to the email. This suggests that Nintendo has brought up the issue of its games being played on Xbox. Nintendo, who owns the copyright on some of these games, could file for copyright infringement claims against Xbox. The email also mentioned a “potential security risk.” Many players save their banking information on their Xbox for purchases and Third-party emulators can gain access from users and exploit sensitive data.

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While Microsoft mentioned these two reasons for the emulator ban, they kept the option for dev mode. Considered safe from personal data loss, dev mode does not have system read-write ability. This makes it ideal to run legal emulation. The email also stated that Microsoft is looking for a legal and safe way to keep emulators running on Xbox.

Xbox Live suspends users for uploading emulated screenshots and video

With the ban on emulators coming to Xbox, Microsoft has also started suspending accounts for uploading emulated screenshots on Xbox Live. A user from the Emulation Discord channel uploaded a screenshot of an email from Microsoft. This email informs that Microsoft temporarily suspended their Xbox account due to their use of an emulator to upload images and videos to Xbox Live, coming as a huge shock for the Xbox community.

What are your thoughts on this ban on emulators? Let us know in the comment section below.

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