Currently, thousands of players are reporting that they are receiving a message on their Xbox: Their device is not authorized and will soon stop functioning. This affects thousands of players.
Players report receiving error messages when trying to use certain third-party controllers on the Xbox Series X/S. The accompanying text informs them that the devices are not authorized and cannot be used from mid-November onwards. The deadline is November 12, 2023:
An attached accessory is not authorized. Using unauthorized accessories affects your gaming experience. For this reason, the unauthorized accessory will be blocked for use on 12.11.2023.
Microsoft wants to punish cheaters, but may affect many innocent gamers
What is behind the ban? Many players speculate that Microsoft intends to primarily target cheaters with the new policy: There are certain adapters that allow players to modify their controller inputs to cheat in popular online shooters like Call of Duty: Warzone 2 and Rainbow Six Siege. As a result, such devices would no longer function, and cheaters would have no chance, at least with such models.
What is the problem? This affects thousands of players who use different accessories. For instance, the accessory manufacturer “Brook Gaming,” which specializes in “Fighting Boards” and steering wheel adapters, reports that these products can no longer be used on Xbox. The same applies to arcade sticks and other devices that rely on their own circuit boards, which have not been authorized by Microsoft.
This would also severely affect our colleague Duy Linh Dinh from GameStar Tech, who built an arcade controller himself and would no longer be able to use it on his console.
Third-party accessories have long been a major problem on consoles
Such accessories for consoles have long been a major problem and a thorn in the side of many developers. These devices are connected to the console, where they act as mouse and keyboard interfaces, emulating controller inputs or executing simple scripts to prompt the game, for example, to give them additional aim assist.
In shooters like Destiny 2, there has been an ongoing effort against such programs and devices. At least they want to punish people who level up way too quickly and cheat their way up the ranks:
