Square-Enix: You jailbreak = You're pirating.

[Sheep]

http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/12/4517022/square-enix-deus-ex-the-fall-jailbreak-game

Square Enix has included a feature in its latest iOS title Deus Ex: The Fall that disables the firing of guns if it recognizes that the player is using a jailbroken device. The limitation, first noted on Reddit, allows users to play the game but displays the message "We are sorry but you can't fire on jailbroken devices" if they attempt to pull the trigger.

While I acknowledge there's a significant correlation between jailbreaking and piracy, this sucks bigtime for those who jailbroke their iDevices to do things like install settings toggles and who have never pirated anything. And of course, the people who do pirate software will easily know where to find patched versions or other ways of working around this limitation while legitimate users will have a much harder time of it and may be SOL. I'm sure Apple will have no problem refusing to provide refunds for those people either.

 

[Red Storm]

Vote with your wallet and don't buy the game. The dismal sales will teach them.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Eh [screw] them for making this mobile [stuff] instead of a real game.

No profanity in the tech forums, please
-ViRGE

 

[ibex333]

No problem. One can still beat the game without guns. Melee and hand to hand. ; )

 

[VashHT]

Vote with your wallet and don't buy the game. The dismal sales will teach them.

...to blame pirates even more.

I don't even get the point of this, if pirate gets this game he's out nothing, he didn't pay in the first place, if someone buys this on their JB device then they're screwed. Once again DRM only screwing over paying customers.

 

[Sheep]

No problem. One can still beat the game without guns. Melee and hand to hand. ; )

According to a comment in the Verge article, you need to fire a gun in the tutorial. If the mobile game is like the console/PC version, you can't beat bosses without guns either.

 

[Red Storm]

...to blame pirates even more.

I don't even get the point of this, if pirate gets this game he's out nothing, he didn't pay in the first place, if someone buys this on their JB device then they're screwed. Once again DRM only screwing over paying customers.

It's bad decision making all around, and the only way to really get the point home to them is to not buy or pirate the game.

 

[Ravynmagi]

...to blame pirates even more.

I don't even get the point of this, if pirate gets this game he's out nothing, he didn't pay in the first place, if someone buys this on their JB device then they're screwed. Once again DRM only screwing over paying customers.

I disagree that piracy costs developers nothing.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I disagree that piracy costs developers nothing.

That's not at all what he said. He said that this only screws paying customers.

You can BUY the game and be unable to play it! Exhibit A, screwing over paying customers.

If you pirate the game, you can't play it either, but you are out $0. Exhibit B, not screwing over pirates.

 

[Ravynmagi]

That's not at all what he said. He said that this only screws paying customers.

You can BUY the game and be unable to play it! Exhibit A, screwing over paying customers.

If you pirate the game, you can't play it either, but you are out $0. Exhibit B, not screwing over pirates.

My apologies to VashHT. I misinterpreted what he said. I thought the "he" was referring to the developer. I see now he obviously was referring to the person pirating the game being out nothing. And the paying customer being out the $15 or whatever obscene price Square Enix is charging for this game.

Yeah, I agree that part does suck. Hopefully there is a clear disclaimer warning people of this limitation of the game.

 

[WelshBloke]

Out of interest how do apps on iOS detect root? Can you disallow root access on an app by app basis (I'm guessing you must otherwise it would be a bit of a security nightmare)?

Cant you just hide the fact that you have root from that app?

 

[Raduque]

Out of interest how do apps on iOS detect root? Can you disallow root access on an app by app basis (I'm guessing you must otherwise it would be a bit of a security nightmare)?

Cant you just hide the fact that you have root from that app?

According to the comments on the Verge article, there's a Cydia app that can hide the jailbroken status from apps.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I wish Square would spend more time on their apps than the DRM.

 

[shortylickens]

I wish Square would spend more time on their apps than the DRM.

Oh dear god this!

 

[Ravynmagi]

There is an update to that original story. Apparently Square Enix didn't warn customers of this restriction and people are pissed off. So they'll be removing that restriction in the near future and allow people to play with jailbroken iOS devices.

That's nice. But something tells me anyone buying Square Enix games better read the description carefully in the future, I suspect this isn't the last we've seen of this.

 

[VashHT]

While they're at it they should remove the online check for FF, it's lame as hell that I need to do an online check to play a single player game from 30 years ago.

 

[Ravynmagi]

While they're at it they should remove the online check for FF, it's lame as hell that I need to do an online check to play a single player game from 30 years ago.

Ugh, they really are doing that too? Geez, and I thought the price of their games was bad.

I understand the frustration developers have towards piracy. But this type of attitude is exactly the type of thing that would drive me to pirate a game.

Sounds like Square Enix needs to chill. Lower the prices of their games so more people will buy them (and that will equal more profits) and remove unnecessary restrictions that frustrate your legitimate customers.

There is always going to be some piracy, have to live with that. But don't make your anti-piracy measures so painful that you drive potential paying customers to the very thing you are trying to prevent them from doing.

 

[poofyhairguy]

While they're at it they should remove the online check for FF, it's lame as hell that I need to do an online check to play a single player game from 30 years ago.

Or maybe update the FF1 app to work worth a damn on a 1080p phone. Was dying to play it last month and ended up just using an emulator.

 

[VashHT]

Yeah true, even on 720p it has a black border, it's ridiculous that SE thinks they can charge $15 crap like that. Oh well I got it on a sale so I wasn't super mad about it but it definitely keeps me from firing it up more often.

 

[Bateluer]

If you bought the game, though I must criticize you for the lack of sense on that, demand a refund.

 

[poofyhairguy]

If you bought the game, though I must criticize you for the lack of sense on that, demand a refund.

I hit the refund button as soon as I saw the black border. Sucks because I would probably buy most of their offerings.

 

[npaladin-2000]

They also tend to put in root-detection code on their Android games, though they eventually end up updating all of them to remove it.

 

[badb0y]

There's a Cydia tweak called xCon, it basically hides the fact that you iDevice is jailbroken.

 

[Crono]

DRM accomplishes nothing except frustrating users. It hasn't stopped piracy and barely slows it down in most cases (sometimes DRM is cracked at or even before release).

Widespread availability and ease of access, competitive prices, and features like robust online multiplayer do. These stupid limitations that companies end up having to reverse only costs them money while doing nothing to stop piracy at all.

I was planning on buying Deus Ex when it comes out for Android, and probably still will, but I'm having second thoughts now.