Deus Ex: The Fall disables guns on jailbroken devices [Update]

Deus Ex: The Fall was released late yesterday, but users with jailbroken iOS devices are complaining that the game detects that status and doesn't let them fire weapons.

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Updated with comment from Square Enix, who promises to remove the ban on jailbroken devices.

Deus Ex: The Fall is getting a fairly warm reception, but if you've modified your iOS device, you may want to resist buying the game. According to some early adopters, the game doesn't let you use guns if your device is jailbroken.

The restriction was caught by a user on Reddit (via Kotaku) and subsequently backed up by reviews in the App Store. When you hit the part of the tutorial that involves firing your weapon, an error message tells you, "We are sorry but you can't fire on jailbroken devices." Though you could conceivably stealth your way through without a weapon, failing to complete the tutorial by tranquilizing the guards may mean you can't progress through the rest of the game.

Jailbreaking your iPhone is perfectly legal, but voids your Apple warranty. It's a common practice among users who want to run homebrew apps and customize their iOS devices beyond the boundaries usually available.

Needless to say, iOS users who bought the game legitimately at its relatively high $6.99 price tag are upset. "I understand protecting the app against cracking/pirating, but preventing paying customers from playing on a device they own and legally modified is ridiculous," one user review read.

Update: Square Enix has issued the following comment to Joystiq, promising an update that removes the ban on jailbroken devices:

We have not been clear in our communication earlier this week when we launched Deus Ex: The Fall. We did not state clearly that the game would not support jailbroken devices and so we will be switching this off via an update, so that all the supported iOS devices will be able to play the game in the near future. We feel it's the right thing to do in this situation and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    July 11, 2013 1:30 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Deus Ex: The Fall disables guns on jailbroken devices.

    Deus Ex: The Fall was released late yesterday, but users with jailbroken iOS devices are complaining that the game detects that status and doesn't let them fire weapons.

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      July 11, 2013 1:31 PM

      Assuming jailbreak=pirate doesn't seem fair.

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        July 11, 2013 1:44 PM

        In Square's defense, it usually does mean that for normal game consoles. The problem is that iOS devices aren't consoles. Quite a few people Jailbreak them for reasons other than piracy, like custom apps, enhanced features, etc. etc. In fact I'd wager that a majority of Jailbroken iOS devices have no pirated software on them (provided you exclude music).

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          July 11, 2013 2:21 PM

          You don't need to jailbreak to put illegally downloaded music onto it.

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            July 11, 2013 2:26 PM

            No, but Jailbroken devices are a subset of iOS devices, and pretty much every iOS device has pirated music on it. :P

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        July 11, 2013 3:40 PM

        Yeah totally not 100% accurate assumption, 97% maybe

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          July 11, 2013 3:43 PM

          Well also, iOS jailbreakers are like maybe 10% of that user base. Pissing them off is probably an acceptable loss.

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            July 11, 2013 3:59 PM

            I wonder how many among that 10% would buy a $7 game?

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              July 11, 2013 7:37 PM

              I love my jailbroken phone but stopped paying for iOS games (with a few exceptions) over a year ago

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              July 11, 2013 7:38 PM

              Wait I haven't stole a single game either, I just find iOS games to be... Bad.

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                July 12, 2013 9:15 AM

                There's a few that work alright, like classic turn-based rpg games. In most cases, I'd much rather play any game with a monitor or TV, though.

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      July 11, 2013 1:37 PM

      Surely its not legal to sell a product that deliberately doesn't work without a warning or something beforehand.

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        July 11, 2013 1:42 PM

        We're about to find out I think. Stuff like this has led to class-action lawsuits before. It depends on whether or not there was an appropriate disclaimer 30 pages into the EULA for the game or not.

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        July 11, 2013 2:27 PM

        I don't think they have any legal obligation to support jailbreaks.

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        July 11, 2013 2:28 PM

        Well I guess they can say to unjailbreak it.

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        July 11, 2013 3:03 PM

        [deleted]

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      July 11, 2013 1:38 PM

      And the countdown starts for a plugin to appear on the Cydia store which fixes this.

      The only thing I can figure is that this is meant to be some kind of heavy anti-piracy measure to stop people from sideloading unauthorized copies of the game. Only problem is, iOS apps are hardly difficult to break open and tinker with. I guarantee you every pirated copy of the game will be modified to remove this "feature". Yet again, pirates will play the game without issue while legitimate, paying customers are negatively affected.

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      July 11, 2013 1:46 PM

      LOL

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      July 11, 2013 1:52 PM

      [deleted]

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        July 11, 2013 2:23 PM

        It's your device, you paid for it... why wouldn't it be legal?

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        July 11, 2013 2:23 PM

        [deleted]

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        July 11, 2013 2:35 PM

        Jailbreak yes, Unlock no. (Unless your provider unlocks for you or you buy unlocked)

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          July 11, 2013 2:42 PM

          didn't they not renew that rule this year - or significantly pared down what it applied to? i'm guessing if anything is still covered, it'd be iphones though

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          July 11, 2013 2:44 PM

          I'm not sure if it's still true that you can't unlock your phone yourself, but I know for certain that providers must unlock your phone if requested once its out of contract.

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          July 11, 2013 4:14 PM

          In Oct. 2012, the Library of Congress ruled on how the DMCA affects unlocking all cellphones, including the iPhone. That ruling, which starts on page 16 of the linked PDF ( http://goo.gl/e3qXm ), went into effect on Jan. 25, 2013. It says that, because there are a number of phones that users can buy unlocked right out of the box (instead of having to unlock them with software), unlocking cellphones is now a violation of the DMCA and is illegal.

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      July 11, 2013 2:25 PM

      [deleted]

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      July 11, 2013 2:27 PM

      Jailbreaking is legal in the US, or at least was until somewhat recently. Time Warner Cable also treats customers who jailbreak like shit and won't let them use their streaming app. This attitude blows my mind.

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        July 11, 2013 2:37 PM

        There's a jailbreak tweak for that :) I had to get it installed because Comcast does the same shit with their app.

        (The tweak is called xCon and can be gotten from n00neimpo0tant.com repo)

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      July 11, 2013 2:35 PM

      Was going to buy this, but won't buy it now that I've seen this. Thanks for the heads up!

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      July 11, 2013 2:44 PM

      Fail!

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      July 11, 2013 2:54 PM

      HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

      *deep breath*

      HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

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      July 11, 2013 2:55 PM

      I didn't ask for this.

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        July 11, 2013 3:07 PM

        It's not Jensen different guy this game I think.

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          July 11, 2013 3:34 PM

          Jensen didn't ask for this either.

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      July 11, 2013 2:58 PM

      What a shame.

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      July 11, 2013 3:04 PM

      This is over top.

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      July 11, 2013 3:05 PM

      Hmm maybe I should ask for a refund. Would they like that?

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      July 11, 2013 3:08 PM

      So they're forcing take-down only runs? Cool.

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        July 11, 2013 3:25 PM

        According to Touch Arcade, the lack of shooting means the tutorial can't be finished and so you can't get to the rest of the game.

        This is how game developers say "fuck you"

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      July 11, 2013 3:13 PM

      Maybe Square just assumed that people with jailbroken phones are doing sneaky stuff, so they assumed you would want to play the game sneaky too.

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        July 11, 2013 3:28 PM

        There's a tiny bit of logic to the idea that, by jailbreaking your device you are now running an unauthorized operating system. When you're looking to support a game it's going to be much easier and cheaper to do so if you can eliminate anyone who is using the device in a different way from which it was intended. I could see someone at Square busting their ass trying to fix a bug only to discover that some app which is running in the background at all times and that would never be authorized from the Apple store is dicking up their game. Maybe they could code the game in such a way to work around that, or maybe they could just tell the guy with the jailbroken device to fuck off. And what better way to do so than making sure he couldn't get anywhere in the game in the first place.

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      July 11, 2013 3:21 PM

      I give this a couple days at most before someone create a substrate plugin to work around their detection

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      July 11, 2013 3:27 PM

      I used to swear by jailbreaking. Now I give zero shits about it, so I'm cool with this.

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        July 11, 2013 3:29 PM

        I don't understand people who jailbreak iOS. If you want complete control of your phone why aren't you running Android?

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          July 11, 2013 3:33 PM

          If I wanted a phone without apps I'd get a Blackberry not an Android

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            July 11, 2013 3:48 PM

            That's a stupid, completely incorrect argument at this point. You should be embarrassed to have posted it.

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              July 11, 2013 3:58 PM

              Seriously, Android has a ton of apps that iOS doesn't, like

              Angry Chicken: Egg Madness!
              Cut the Birds 3D
              Angry Birds Zuma
              Angry Little Birds Free
              Angry Bird Basketball
              Natural Angry birds free
              Angry Frogs
              Cute Storks R Non Angry Birds
              Angry Birds Minecraft YourApps
              Meany Birds
              Angry Pissed Birds
              Angry Keeper
              Catch The Birds - Fun Tap Game
              Ninja Birds X - Fruit Strike
              Fan Angry Birds
              Thunder Birds
              Annoyed Birds Coloring
              Angry Tits
              Arrogant Birds Matching
              Bloody Birds Live Wallpaper
              Cute Angry Chick and Bird
              Save birds
              Angry Bird chicken
              Angry Space Alien Birds
              Angry Poo Space

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              July 11, 2013 4:03 PM

              I don't think its stupid. IOS is a far more robust and current app store than Android. Developers that want to make money make IOS apps first.

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        July 11, 2013 6:57 PM

        You're cool with them bringing shitty fake-DRM to mobile now too? Even if it doesn't affect you (yet), it will eventually.

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      July 11, 2013 4:37 PM

      Wait a minute... do you mean to tell me there are people playing this game?

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      July 11, 2013 6:21 PM

      What a crock of shit. I'm jailbroken and all my apps are bought and paid for. I was considering picking this up, but now no way.

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      July 11, 2013 6:27 PM

      Well this'll get interesting.

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      July 11, 2013 6:37 PM

      if iOS didn't suck balls, this would not be a problem. Apple needs to get with it, and Squeeenix needs to put out an Android version.

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      July 11, 2013 11:10 PM

      Want to know how to play Deus Ex: The Fall on jailbroken devices? Search AppsGoer Deus Ex: The Fall forum to get the trick.
      http://forums.appsgoer.com/showthread.php?3183-How-to-play-Deus-Ex-The-Fall-on-jailbroken-devices

    • reply
      July 11, 2013 11:40 PM

      [deleted]

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      July 12, 2013 12:57 PM

      Square Enix is doing a 180 (pretty common in games nowadays, huh?). Jailbroken devices will be able to play the game soon:

      "We have not been clear in our communication earlier this week when we launched Deus Ex: The Fall. We did not state clearly that the game would not support jailbroken devices and so we will be switching this off via an update, so that all the supported iOS devices will be able to play the game in the near future. We feel it's the right thing to do in this situation and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."

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