Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by ls1911 on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @08:13AM
(#49167596)
Yea, but there are bigger problems coming, this outage is just a temporary preview of the future.
What happens to game preservation in 20 or 10 years when the authentication servers for this generation are permanently shut down?
Millions of physical discs will instantly turn into e-waste.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by inigyou on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @08:19AM
(#49167673)
The same thing that happened with all the Denuvo games so far: some hackers remove the DRM.
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by drdexebtjl on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @08:38AM
(#49167948)
That would be possibly illegal, requires someone highly specialized to care about each and every one of your games, and assumes there won’t be a crackdown on the openness and anonymity of the Internet that currently allows the distribution of pirate software.
We need to have this right codified into law before we lose it.
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by inigyou on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @08:53AM
(#49168188)
Not just possibly, the DMCA makes it a felony to remove or bypass any copy protection measure, even if it doesn't work very well.
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by drdexebtjl on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @09:24AM
(#49168633)
Not every jurisdiction has the DMCA, so that’s why I said possibly. It’s definitely illegal in the US.
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by inigyou on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @12:01PM
(#49170767)
Every jurisdiction was bullied into adopting this provision as part of every trade deal the US ever makes. Cory Doctorow wrote about it. Look for the keyword "anticircumvention".
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by drdexebtjl on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @12:27PM
(#49171149)
Couldn’t find it. I know for a fact it isn’t illegal in my country.
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by inigyou on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @05:16PM
(#49175277)
It's coming. https://www.iipa.org/files/uploads/2026/01/BRAZIL-2026-COPYE...
(Search "circumvention")
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by drdexebtjl on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @05:58PM
(#49175780)
There’s a huge difference between the US bullying us into making this illegal, and the US throwing a fit in a report suggesting we should do it.
We’ve been on this watchlist before.
There’s no such law being proposed right now.
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by mindlessg on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @09:53AM
(#49169031)
Removing DRM is all fun and games until single player titles start requiring constant internet access in the future.
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by inigyou on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @10:23AM
(#49169439)
Denuvo requires internet access. It's been cracked anyway.
Do you know about this tool called Ghidra? It makes most programs open source. Not the ones with DRM, though.
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by throwawayffffas on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @10:47AM
(#49169752)
The next step they want to take is not have you use your own hardware at all and just stream it to you, so you don't even have a copy.
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by psp99 on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @08:14AM
(#49167605)
e-waste is the last of the problems.
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by wett on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @08:17AM
(#49167648)
Figuratively and literally!
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by Schiendelman on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @08:44AM
(#49168040)
Hasn't Microsoft had a good track record of enabling playing old generation games on new hardware?
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by queenkjuul on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @10:12AM
(#49169279)
Xbox kinda, windows no
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by Schiendelman on Saturday August 08, 2026 @07:11PM
(#49226779)
Kinda?
Re:Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc
by queenkjuul on Sunday August 09, 2026 @02:01PM
(#49233775)
You can play a selection of OG Xbox games on the latest console and most, but not all, 360 games work too. So, kinda