Over the last few years, game developers have been mercilessly screwing with pirates. Pirates have been tricked into outing themselves, force-fed a taste of their own medicine, gotten trapped in elevators, and otherwise had their games ruined. But Microsoft has decided to stop messing around and drop the nuke.
Found by PC Gamer, Microsoft explicitly states that “counterfeit games” aren’t going to work with Windows 10. In fact, you agree to it when you install the OS; it’s part of Microsoft’s services agreement, basically what you sign off onto whenever you connect to the Internet with a Microsoft app. PC World points out this is mostly legal butt-covering; Microsoft is saying that if you connect to the Internet with a pirated game, it’s not responsible for what happens.
Still, while this will only apply to first-party software like Windows 10, not Steam or other clients, it is a pretty loud shot across the bow for pirates. Microsoft is more or less reserving the right to delete any pirated game that connects to its servers, which makes sense considering the malware pirated games are often riddled with. This, of course, will not stop individuals lacking self-awareness to complain about how Microsoft should make their lives easier, but, then again, you probably don’t want those guys on a server, anyway.
(via PC Gamer)