Making more money or curbing cheaters? Xbox bans the use of third-party controllers
There are many Xbox One and Xbox S/X Series gamers who, if they need a new controller, turn to the third-party market. This is normal when a second controller is needed to play games in local mode or when the one that comes with the console breaks down, since the prices of these non-Microsoft brands are much lower. However, from now on it will not be so easy. The reason? The company has begun to veto this type of accessories. As reported by The Verge, many users who have turned on their game consoles today have come across an unexpected message on their TV screens. Specifically, it says that “the connected accessory is not authorized”. Next to it, the error code “0x82d60002” is displayed. Turning to the Xbox support page, the gamer is met with additional information about the problem that is certainly quite discouraging.
Specifically, this message states that “from the moment you connect an unauthorized accessory and receive the error code, you have two weeks to continue using it”. It also adds that, once that time has passed, “it will be blocked for use on the console”. Finally, he adds: “We recommend contacting the store or the manufacturer for help with the return”.
Alarm bells have gone off
The only third-party controllers that will not be affected by the measure will be those that bear the “designed for Xbox” badge. However, since the price difference between them and the originals is not that great, they are not as popular in the market as the others. Among the main brands affected are such well-known names in the Microsoft gaming community as XIM or Brook Gaming, which has even released a statement on X explaining that it will spare no effort in offering possible solutions to its customers.
There are several reasons that could have motivated Microsoft to make this decision without prior notice. The first of these has to do with the decline in sales of its Xbox game consoles and official accessories, which is leading the division to see its profit margins significantly reduced. Another issue to be taken into account is the blocking of controllers intended for cheating. The most obvious example is the Cronus Zen devices.