Xbox Series X's best feature has been shut down, fans livid

Xbox fans have taken to Twitter to protest following Microsoft’s decision to shut down third party emulation on consoles.

As Kotaku reports, back when the Xbox Series X/S first launched, users found that they could install emulators on the console which could play retro classics from PlayStation 2, GameCube and more, which is really cool. However, all good things must come to an end, and users were recently greeted with error messages upon attempting to load their emulators, which state that “the game or app you’re trying to launch violates Microsoft Store policy and is not supported”.

Before we get into it, take a look at this satisfying Xbox cleanup video below.

Frustratingly for fans, this is only a problem for consoles running in retail mode - with the paid developer mode, emulators are apparently still totally accessible. As such, you can understand the annoyance, and over on Twitter, retro gaming fans and preservationists have been using the hashtag ‘LetUsEmulate’ in the hopes of convincing Microsoft and Xbox boss Phil Spencer to change things back to how they once were.

“[This is] the only reason I use an Xbox in the first place,” @XavierLydon tweeted. “[Please] man, [Phil Spencer] do something, I know how you love emulation but don't kill [it] on your OWN platform. There's plenty of amazing/hidden gems [that] are still waiting to be played and [they’re] only playable through emulation. Can you please bring it back,” @farisali0 wrote. “We would like to be able to play on emulators again, this is the unique feature of Xbox, this is why we love Xbox,” @GabrielBordinh5 posted.

Again, if you’re one of the people affected by this, it’s still possible to switch to developer mode, but you’ll apparently have to pay around $20 to do so. Microsoft has not publicly responded to the outcry.