Pirates claim UWP app and game protection has been cracked

Microsoft is hoping to bring Windows 10 PC users into the gaming fold by pushing Play Anywhere games, but publishing high quality game titles in the Microsoft Store has not just attracted gamers but also hackers, who it appears have now breached the DRM protections Microsoft has put in place to protect software which often sells for around $60.

Torrentfreak reports that a cracking group called CODEX has managed to breach 5 layers of DRM protection around the Zoo Tycoon Ultimate Animal Collection, previously believed to be uncrackable.

This included MSStore, UWP, EAppX, XBLive, and Arxan, the latter being an anti-tamper system.

“This is the first scene release of a UWP (Universal Windows Platform) game. Therefore we would like to point out that it will of course only work on Windows 10. This particular game requires Windows 10 version 1607 or newer,” the group reports in their release notes.

It is not clear if the exploit is specific to Zoo Tycoon, or if all Triple-A games in the Windows Store are now available more or less free of charge.  If the later this may affect Microsoft’s attempts to entice 3rd party developers to the store, and I suspect the second phase of the usual cat and mouse game between developers and hackers will now be on again.