Meta announces always online DRM for all existing and future Quest VR devices
mixed-news.com
Meta sneakily introduced "Platform Integrity Attestation API" which basically calls home to see whether the user has a valid license to play.
This means that to run apps user has to have online connection to perform an integrity test. Whether it's only a test on launch or continues call home like Denuvo-like DRMs is not yet clear. This could also mean that modified headsets could fail to pass this test essentially closing down the device for modifications that could damage "platform integrity". Not all details are clear yet but this doesn't look good.
Currently it's optional and up to app developers to enable it.
You are viewing a single comment
Liiiiiitle bit of an outrage attempting title.
The API is being added, it’s optional for developers, and the person that is quoted in the article even says that it’s not really going to be used for that.
Also there’s never been anything stopping developers from making their games “always online” to begin with, so this changes nothing.
This is like saying steam requires always online simply because an api exists for online checking drm.
Not a fair comparison to Steam as it allows indefinite-ish offline access as long as you check in once. This new Quest restriction has nothing like this. It's more similar to DRM systems like Denuvo that call home on startup or during play time. The API also checks device integrity which means access to apps could be disabled for modified devices and Steam does nothing of sort.
The comparison was that the ability to enforce always online exists in steam, just like it will here. Neither will mandate it.
The ability to do this isn’t only being added now, it’s just that meta have made an api for it that developers can use if they want instead of writing their own.
Honestly I'm not as optimistic as you are. Official API gives implicit permission for DRM. Right now if an APP did this it would be review bombed and suffer backslash. With official API it'll slowly normalizes DRM and suddenly everything requires online.
Quest is getting more closed with every release - remember when Facebook login was not required? The whole dev ecosystem is getting more complex with every update. This seems like an up-coming trend especially now that Quests main competition will be an extremely closed ecosystem of Apple. This will give Quest permision to basically lock down more.
My bet is that a year in most of the apps will have this DRM though I'd love to be proven wrong. I love my Quest 2 and only use it to draw/sculpt when I travel and that would basically kill the device for me so I might be a bit over protective of my hobby here but it really sucks when you buy a thing and somebody else tells you how to use it.
Only the nerds care. There is DRM on every damn platform or there except gog and nobody cares because it works fine and they aren't the users who just want to steal.
You hear about a shitty DRM implementation like once a year. This is all just noise from pirates.
This is such a "why does privacy matter when I have nothing to hide" argument.
God forbid my software check that it's not stolen!
Hey did you steal that? Did you steal that? Is that stolen? No don't block my line of sight I need to see if you stole that. Did you steal that? Did you steal that?
What a consumer experience.
And yet for most products, nobody notices nor cares.
Whatever you say.
"Noise from pirates" is bullshit. Pirates generally tend to have a better experience with their media than legal users.
Lolol 👌 Plex is definitely more consistent then Netflix 🙄
They're plenty of people who complain about it when it doesn't work, but they don't know why it doesn't work, they're just annoyed it doesn't.
yea, this article is intentionally rage baiting. I hate meta as much as the next guy, but 1) im shocked there wasnt any DRM for their apps already, and b) this just opens an API for apps.
Im just not going to buy games with DRM, same as steam.
Yeah, but people love finding new reasons to rant about Meta (as if there weren't enough already)