Gamers with jailbroken iOS devices who have purchased or otherwise acquired the new game Deus Ex: The Fall are running into a problem when they attempt to play: they can't fire any guns, a key part of the game.
Encountered by Redditor KipEnyan and verified by several user reviews in the app store, jailbroken players starting up the first mobile installment of the Deus Ex series are treated to a few cutscenes and a movement tutorial before running into the message above. It comes up during the game's shooting tutorial, and while one would assume players could still stealth through the game, I'm not sure they can progress beyond that point without tranquilizing those guards.
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Eidos and N-Fusion, the development firms behind Deus Ex: The Fall likely implemented the measure to deter piracy, as jailbreaking is a requirement to pirate software, though not all users who jailbreak choose to pirate software.
As a result, users who choose to jailbreak for other reasons but pay for their software get caught in the same net as the pirates. It's not the first time that developers have resorted to similar tactics to stop pirates, although it is unusual for such a high-profile developer to target not just pirates but all jailbroken users.
Earlier this year the publisher of Game Dev Tycoon encoded features into the game that would bankrupt players who didn't pay for their copies, while DirecTV prevents users with jailbroken devices from using its app at all.
Deus Ex: The Fall is available on iPhone and iPad for $6.99 from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Update: An unconfirmed source has indicated that the anti-jailbreak code was included in Deus Ex: The Fall at the request of publisher Square Enix and that an update is in the works to remove it.
Top Rated Comments
All my friends with Android devices went and jailbroke their devices just so they could play pirated software.
I'm jailbroken but do not pirate apps. If more and more apps start doing this, then before spending my money, I will want to check that there are no dumb restrictions like this, therefore making me WANT to pirate to make sure I'm actually getting what I paid for.
I bought XCOM and LOVE it. Had no problems with the $19.99 price tag. But what if that game had done this?? I would have been more than upset and never purchased another game from that company again.
No matter how good iOS gets I'll have a need for 3G unrestrictor.
As the post says, not all who jailbreak or root pirate.