Windows 10 UWP Protection Kicks the Bucket

[Chino]

2018 has been an exciting year for the Warez scene so far. First, Italian group CPY circumvented Ubisoft's deadly triple protection (Uplay, Denuvo, and VMProtect) that was present in Assassin's Creed Origins. And now, the word on the street is that CODEX has successfully cracked Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform (UWP) protection found in Zoo Tycoon Ultimate Animal Collection. Unlike Denuvo's unimpressive track record for protecting games for a few months, UWP actually did a stellar job in keeping multiple Microsoft games safe for over a year. So, what's Microsoft's secret winning formula? Stick as many layers of DRM into the game as humanly possible. According to CODEX's NFO file, Zoo Tycoon Ultimate Animal Collection had as many as five different DRMs (MSStore, UWP, EAppX, XBLive, and Arxan) which made the game a pain in the neck to crack. At this moment, it's unknown whether other Microsoft titles like Forza Motorsport 7 or Gears of War 4 possess the same number of protection layers. But now that CODEX has initiated the domino effect, we'll find out soon enough.


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[RejZoR]

Who even buys UWP games anyway? I mean, who would willingly go to Starbucks and order some ebola coz it tastes to good? Coz that's about the same as buying an UWP game...

Funny how you never hear any news about X warez group cracking GOG games. I wonder what's GOG's magic sauce no one can crack...

 

[trparky]

Aren't most games on GOG not DRM protected? As far as buying games from the Windows Store you do have the benefit of playing the same game on the XBOX One.

 

[Vayra86]

Just let this UWP get out of (semi) serious gaming already, MS... make games or buy studios that make games and leave the ecosystem be.

 

[eidairaman1]

Just let this UWP get out of (semi) serious gaming already, MS... make games or buy studios that make games and leave the ecosystem be.

Considering the MS Gaming Zone was somewhat a Precursor to Steam, Origin, etc. When that went offline started using xfire for multiplayer launcher lol

 

[rtwjunkie]

Aren't most games on GOG not DRM protected? As far as buying games from the Windows Store you do have the benefit of playing the same game on the XBOX One.

They all are DRM-free. RejZoR was illustrating a point that theres nothing to crack there, and yet they do very well financially.

 

[natr0n]

When they crack the Asphalt series . I'll get excited.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Aren't most games on GOG not DRM protected? As far as buying games from the Windows Store you do have the benefit of playing the same game on the XBOX One.

He was joking. GOG doesn't allow DRM on the games in their store. It's the main premise of their site.

When they crack the Asphalt series . I'll get excited.

You're kidding? The Asphalt series has already been.

 

[LightningJR]

Who even buys UWP games anyway? I mean, who would willingly go to Starbucks and order some ebola coz it tastes to good? Coz that's about the same as buying an UWP game...

Funny how you never hear any news about X warez group cracking GOG games. I wonder what's GOG's magic sauce no one can crack...

I bought Forza Mototsport 7 on the Windows Store. I have been wanting a GT or Forza game on PC ever since GT1 and now I finally have one. There's no game with the number of licensed cars or the ability to win credits to upgrade parts and customize your vehicles on the PC until Forza 7.

GoG has no DRM, it's their "thing".

 

[evernessince]

They all are DRM-free. RejZoR was illustrating a point that theres nothing to crack there, and yet they do very well financially.

Who doesn't like GOG? Games are cheap, super easy to download, and they even provide additional extras like what steam does. DRM free means you can play without internet and don't have to load up an additional piece of software each time you want to play. Keep a copy for backup too if you want .

 

[bug]

Who even buys UWP games anyway? I mean, who would willingly go to Starbucks and order some ebola coz it tastes to good? Coz that's about the same as buying an UWP game...

Funny how you never hear any news about X warez group cracking GOG games. I wonder what's GOG's magic sauce no one can crack...

I was thinking more like who would waste time with such a title? But, as an engineer, I remembered we do stuff just because it's out there taunting us.

Edit: Also, to crack a GOG game, you'd have to put DRM in first

 

[woopadidoo]

As well as not burdening the CPU while the game performance suffers unless the cpu in question is top of the line 8+threads ~5ghz with all or half of said threads chewing through all the "virtual" drm mechanims. Imagine how frustrating it is for people with mid to low end (multiplier locked and cache castrated) cpu's.

 

[AsRock]

Who even buys UWP games anyway? I mean, who would willingly go to Starbucks and order some ebola coz it tastes to good? Coz that's about the same as buying an UWP game...

Funny how you never hear any news about X warez group cracking GOG games. I wonder what's GOG's magic sauce no one can crack...

You be surprised.

 

[lexluthermiester]

You be surprised.

What would we be surprised by? You didn't highlight what you were referring to.

 

[AsRock]

I read it wrong, how ever if Starbucks sold ebola coffee they be millions who would buy it just like the last one they came out with.

 

[Space Lynx]

I'm actually surprised there are people that still crack such advanced levels of DRM. I would imagine with that level of skill in computers in general, one could easily land a 50k+ job somewhere USD salary. I see thousands of in-demand software jobs all over the world. I guess some people just don't know how to apply, or lack the social skills, not sure what the deal is. Either way, I find it amusing how smart they are. I have no idea where to even begin on a Word document besides the basic outline for a regular typed document. LOL

 

[lexluthermiester]

I would imagine with that level of skill in computers in general, one could easily land a 50k+ job somewhere USD salary.

Who says they don't have that or better?

 

[timta2]

I'm actually surprised there are people that still crack such advanced levels of DRM. I would imagine with that level of skill in computers in general, one could easily land a 50k+ job somewhere USD salary. I see thousands of in-demand software jobs all over the world. I guess some people just don't know how to apply, or lack the social skills, not sure what the deal is. Either way, I find it amusing how smart they are. I have no idea where to even begin on a Word document besides the basic outline for a regular typed document. LOL

Money doesn't matter that much, to some people. Some people do things because they enjoy them.

 

[windwhirl]

Who even buys UWP games anyway? I mean, who would willingly go to Starbucks and order some ebola coz it tastes to good? Coz that's about the same as buying an UWP game...

Funny how you never hear any news about X warez group cracking GOG games. I wonder what's GOG's magic sauce no one can crack...

There is an advantage to buying certain games on Microsoft Store: You only buy them once and you can play them either on Xbox (if such version is available) or on PC. I don't have an Xbox, so I never bothered to use the MS Store to buy games, but I think you can even have the game installed and running simultaneously on a number of devices, while paying for a single license of the game.

 

[Space Lynx]

Money doesn't matter that much, to some people. Some people do things because they enjoy them.

Excellent point. Just seems like tedious work to me, but lot of people have hobbies that seem that way to other people. I am sure a lot of people look at us PC builders and are like that seems so silly... lol

 

[kn00tcn]

Who even buys UWP games anyway? I mean, who would willingly go to Starbucks and order some ebola coz it tastes to good? Coz that's about the same as buying an UWP game...
Funny how you never hear any news about X warez group cracking GOG games. I wonder what's GOG's magic sauce no one can crack...

i didnt know starbucks is struggling to find customers & the ones they do have hate it so much but are forced to drink it

i didnt know quantum break, forza, gears, tomb raider, etc didnt turn out ok after a few uwp platform updates

i didnt know i could play my steam games on xbox, or buy xbox games & play them on steam without paying twice

i didnt know casual games & a bunch of MS's win10 apps arent uwp

i didnt know the amount of news posts has any relation to what actually happens, that must mean all those gog installers posted around arent real

I'm actually surprised there are people that still crack such advanced levels of DRM. I would imagine with that level of skill in computers in general, one could easily land a 50k+ job somewhere USD salary. I see thousands of in-demand software jobs all over the world. I guess some people just don't know how to apply, or lack the social skills, not sure what the deal is. Either way, I find it amusing how smart they are. I have no idea where to even begin on a Word document besides the basic outline for a regular typed document. LOL

cracking techniques do not really apply to most software dev (except for debugging)

CPY is italian (most denuvo releases)