Microsoft seems to be putting its foot down regarding support for third-party accessories as it moves to ban controllers and other devices from being used with its Xbox consoles. A move that would eventually cause a lot of devices to no longer function.
The new ban won’t affect all third-party devices since there are companies out there that have been officially licensed to work with these consoles. So these devices will continue to function despite the ban. This includes companies like PowerA and GameSir, which have been working with Microsoft to produce controllers that meet a certain expectation of quality and features.
However, there is a long list of companies out there from various corners of the world that have launched wired controllers targeting these consoles that don’t offer the same quality or experience. Leading to the push to ban these from use with the Xbox One and Series X/S consoles. Citing that they can compromise the user’s experience (ie, quality, security, etc). Or, maybe it is just because these companies didn’t pay up to properly license their products.
As of November 12th, these devices will generate an error on the console that states that the device is not authorized, rejecting it from use. And that the user should replace them or even ask for a refund from the company that sold it to them.
This will likely result in a lot of third-party companies going into hiding in an attempt to avoid the news of so many unusable products overnight. Either that or they will be refunding a lot of gamers and/or rushing to seek licensing from Microsoft.
