Xbox has reportedly started issuing temporary suspensions to players who use emulators in retail mode.
Previously, users were able to download emulators as applications directly from the Microsoft store, which would allow them to play retro game ROMs on any retail Xbox Series console.
Microsoft then later disabled the loophole that would let these applications run on the retail mode of the system (though users could still run the applications in developer mode).
Hikikomori Media cites a Discord server called the Xbox Emulation Hub, which is dedicated to the running of emulators on Xbox consoles.
VGC joined the server to corroborate the claims, and found an announcement posted on Thursday from staff member GoldenSky – who specialises in creating retail access to the RetroArch emulator – informing users that “retail mode is dead”, and that the Discord server’s retail mode channel will be deleted within a week.
Effective immediately, we are halting any and all retail mode emulation, permanently, This channel will be deleted within the week, and this announcement will be moved to [the server announcements channel] for preservation purposes.