"It's sad," gamers protest and ask Xbox to bring back emulators on Series X|S

Recently, Xbox gave a hard blow to emulation in Series X|S, as it now prevents its players from using Duckstation, Dolphin, Xenia and other emulators if they don't have the developer mode. The community is not at all happy with this decision, so they raised their voices on social networks to protest.

Twitter user gamr12 was one of the first to speak out about the situation, as he is an emulation enthusiast and worked to make it possible for Xbox gamers to take advantage of it. He pointed out that Xbox and Phil Spencer took the wrong path and was disappointed.

He used the hashtag #LetUsEmulate to start a campaign against the changes and, as expected, received support from many console users.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a good run.

But now we've no choice but to @Xbox @XboxP3 #LetUsEmulate pic.twitter.com/K9KO1p655K

— Gamr13 🇮🇪 (@gamr12) April 6, 2023

Fans lash out at barriers to emulation on Xbox Series X|S

"For the past 2 years, we've promoted legal emulation on a popular platform that people have genuinely enjoyed. It's a true shame to see Xbox crack down on emulation for those who can't afford Developer Mode, or don't have the means to purchase it. This is a shot in the face", said gamr12.

The community joined forces to ask Spencer not to put barriers to emulation on Xbox Series X|S. Many gamers believe it is a very attractive feature of the consoles, so the company should offer more alternatives.

While emulation is still available, you need to pay $20 USD to have developer mode to continue using it. This upset many gamers, who claimed that Xbox took away some of their fun and put it behind a paywall.

"I own over 800 digital games on Xbox & having had the ability to let my kids play some of the games that I grew up playing has been an enjoyable & heartfelt experience. It’s a sad day for the families who can’t afford to share these memories with their kids anymore," stated one user.

Other gamers asked Xbox to think about the entire legacy of video games, so they made requests for emulation to return and not be essential to have the developer mode to enjoy it.

@Xbox @XboxP3 - This is highly unacceptable taking away our right to use legal emulation on Xbox. This was one of the sole reasons why I bought an Xbox Series X instead of a PlayStation 5. Now you guys have taken our gaming freedom away.
#LetUsEmulate https://t.co/gpeSikgdLd

— AnalogFunktion (@AnalogFunktion) April 7, 2023

@XboxP3 @Xbox I own over 800 digital games on Xbox & having had the ability to let my kids play some of the games that I grew up playing has been an enjoyable & heartfelt experience. It’s a sad day for the families who can’t afford to share these memories with their kids anymore.

— Pushing Forward (@ForwardPushing) April 6, 2023

Being able to have the freedom as consumers to run a variety of machines on our current consoles was a privilege that was abruptly taken away from us after years of joy. #LetUsEmulate

— KevinxD3 #Lolo #Klonoa (@Kevinrodolfo31) April 6, 2023