Meta announced it’s introducing new anti-piracy measures for Quest developers that the company says will protect VR apps from “unauthorized modifications and potential security breaches.”

Called the Platform Integrity Attestation API (Attestation API), Meta says its new system is designed to detect whether an app’s server is interacting with an untampered VR device, thereby ensuring whether an app is authentic or not.

The Attestation API includes things like secure device authentication, hardware-based app bans, protection of financial and enterprise app data, prevention of external data misuse, and other anti-piracy measures.

In a developer blogpost, Meta calls it “increasingly important to instill a consistent method for validating the integrity of apps in order to provide a secure and safe user experience for everyone.”

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It remains to be seen what effects this will have on modding communities, since modders for Quest games such as Beat Saber may inadvertently run afoul of the new token system at the core of the Attestation API.

“Once integrated, the API will provide you with an ‘attestation token,’ which you can use to determine if an app running on a Meta device has been tampered with,” Meta says. “This token is cryptographically signed by the Attestation Server to reinforce the security and reliability of the attestation process.”

At the time of this writing, we have not yet received a response for comment from Meta on what effects it may have on those communities. We’ll update this piece when/if we do.

Meta is allowing developers to opt-in now for their Quest apps, which spans Quest 2, Quest Pro, and the upcoming Quest 3, which is slated to launch in late 2023. Meta has published documentation for both Unity and Native.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • xyzs

    Hardware based app bans?
    So if are unlucky enough to buy a headset form ViRGiN, you’ll be sanctioned day one and banned from all apps because of your headset that has a dark past?

    • ViRGiN

      It won’t be a paper weight. You can always plug usb dogleash into pc sms and experience true high end vr with games like paid version of gorilla tag, killer klownz, slopes, but these are just hits, best of the best, you can get into completly unknown titles like vertigo.

      It’s still a good purchase, and you get access to thousands of vr games that haven’t been launched by a single person for weeks.

      It’s not like steam that cuts you of completly from access to all your paid games because chromium-something. Just buy a new pc.

      • KingSmokYaAss420

        yea funny you say that because that all i use this piece of junk for is pc vr im about to sell it now and get a vive

  • FrankB

    Without the ability to pirate I will probably buy less, I use piracy to evaluate games I want to buy.

    • ViRGiN

      And once it’s running, you play it a few hours and deem the game not worth the price, and you already beat half of it so there is no point buying it even on sale.

      Just refund a game you don’t like. Same as on PC.
      Waiting for demos or reviews is pure nonsense.

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Wow, ViRGiN saying something sensible. What is the world coming to.

    • CrusaderCaracal

      what’s the point of buying it if you’ve already got a copy of it. be like the rest of us and actually commit. Steam has a really good refund policy, i’ve been able to refund all of the games i didn’t enjoy playing

      • KingSmokYaAss420

        Yea then turn around and cry about not liking the game and eat that 30 you could have spent on a steam game

        • CrusaderCaracal

          think you missed where i said “really good refund policy” every single game i didnt enjoy ive been able to refund, if you dont enjoy it you’re obviously not sinking hours into it and steam has no issue refunding it

    • KingSmokYaAss420

      Same they sould make games free to test to see if its worth buying because ive wasted over 100 on games that suck and arent long at all or just a complete waste of money

  • Octogod

    Good – if we want quality VR software we should be willing to pay for it.

  • Sven Viking

    I hope the modification check is an optional component. If your DRM is running in the first place you can easily check if they have a license without also forbidding user mods. For things like financial apps or competitive multiplayer games where people are using hacks, sure.

  • Terminal

    So your app depends on some server being up? Welcome back to to 1970’s!

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Uhm, these days MANY apps rely on external servers.

      • MarcDwonn

        I usually always check for such dependencies before buying software, no matter if productivity or entertainment related. I never buy software that potentially can’t be used 10 years from now, because some server is down, or a company decides that it needs to cut costs or goes bankrupt).

        Still playing my favorite games from 20-25 years ago every 2 years or so (Unreal, Quake1-3, HL1 & HL2, Deus Ex, STALKER, System Shock 2, Max Payne 1/2 etc). Of course the industry will not want people doing it – everyone should buy new games instead.

  • MarcDwonn

    method for validating the integrity of apps in order to provide a secure and safe user experience for everyone.

    The most safe user experience is when you play offline. Much cheaper and better solution to the problem: stop requiring a constant online connection.

  • fckdrmcom

    DRM = Malware.
    Video Game History Foundation:

    “video game availability is dire. Only 13 percent of video
    games published in the United States are currently in release. This figure is comparable to the availability of pre-World War II audio recordings (10 percent or less) or the survival rate of American silent-era films (14 percent), two other mediums at risk.”

  • MeowMix

    I wonder if this will also cease the Quest piracy communities; you know the ones that have hundreds of Quest games hosted for ppl to download in mass. If it does I say good !

    • KingSmokYaAss420

      so your that dude that likes to waste 20 to 30 bucks on a game that dont last but maybe 10 min lol

    • Oscar Phyo

      So you likes when company fked over people in third-world country because the game are literally priced at their monthly salary instead of asking company to make a fking regional pricing like steam????
      Seem like a good thing then

  • This “Anti-Piracy” tool is a MASSIVELY bad idea. Always requiring a “rights server” to “allow” you to use your own software is inherently stupid.

    First off, I’m certain people can hack any Android app to work around it. These sorts of “online rights management” have always been easy to defeat.

    Secondly, legitimate owners of software have to place their bets on these game studios not going under and taking their “Rights Management” servers with them. Most VR titles these days are small studios, who function under SUPER unstable futures! No server, no verification, no game. At that point you’d HAVE to be a pirate to run those older games.

    It also, what if you’re using the Quest while “on the road”? Maybe you don’t have WiFi in your hotel? Or at a campsite? It’s a MOBILE DEVICE, with zero cellular access. OF COURSE somebody is going to use it while away from the internet!

    This whole system is a bad idea, everywhere and every time it’s used. It’s high time people admit it’s bad for everyone involved and STOP USING IT!

  • Ondrej

    The only DRM that actually works and cannot be cracked is making portion of the game run on a server and never release the files. This is why Diablo 3 was never cracked. But that increases the costs of maintenance and every time someone plays your game it costs you money, so it only makes sense for games with continued monetization (eg. microtransactions). It also makes it impossible to play offline.

  • emdoesvr

    this only happens with pirated versions of the game. if you modded beat saber and you bought it off the quest store you should be just fine

  • John Karmack

    Meta is thus distancing itself from verification; VR applications will be cracked and will bypass the developers’ protections. The moral of the story is that there will be even more piracy and less surveillance.

  • Oscar Phyo

    People seems to don’t get not everyone live in western country with a good salary. It is not our fault that we are born in the third-world country where games are so expensive. “tHeeN hOW caN YoU aFForD a HeaDSeT?”, this is not a good excuse at all, some of us got with a lot of saving or found a good deal. Instead of making these anti-piracy stuff that will fk a lot of gamers, why not just put regional pricing? We know that some cheap-as* from western country will abuse it but it is still better way if you want us to actually buy your games