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Epic Games Store exploit allows you to play and keep a game forever, without even buying it

CyberPanda

Banned
It appears that PC gamers can take advantage of an exploit on the Epic Games Store to access and keep games to their accounts for free. Willian Worrall of CCN discovered this new vulnerability and – for anyone interested – Epic Games has not fixed it yet.

According to Worrall, a user can log into an account that has purchased the game and download it. That’s quite normal as it happens with every store/launcher. However, users can then logout, log into their own account and start playing the game. Yeap, you read that right; even if you haven’t purchased the game for your own account, you will still be able to play it.

As Worrall noted, this is mainly due to the lack of a DRM. In order to demonstrate this exploit, Worrall used Borderlands 3 as an example. This exploit can be easily reproduced on newer EGS accounts, and it most likely affects all games on the store. Now while Borderlands 3 uses the Denuvo anti-tamper tech, it does not – apparently – lock your copy to your Epic Games Store account.
Epic Games has not responded yet on this vulnerability, though we are certain that it will fix it really soon.

Now I’m pretty sure that some users will try to take advantage of it, however, we don’t know whether there will be any future precautions against this exploit. By future precautions, I obviously mean Epic Games banning the keys used for this exploit. Moreover, and like most exploits, this is strictly illegal so we strongly suggest staying away from such things.
Kudos to our reader Metal Messiah for bringing this to our attention!

Thanks CCN

 
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asker

Member
It's a stretch to even call it an exploit. It's like back in the day when you borrowed a PC game off a friend and kept playing if after it was returned because the developer didn't put in any copy protection. This is so banal there is no way the people at Epic didn't know this was a possibility.
 
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Writing this article seems like a great way to get really annoying DMR implemented. I don't like epic exclusive deals but saying their weekly free games are bargain bin games is stretching it. They've given a lot of really popular games from a few years ago for free like Enter the Gungeon, fez and the batman games.
 
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Why is there so much hate to a platform giving out 2 games for free every couple of weeks?
I mean...shit like this is good for the consumer...kinda...but it's not really good for the developers and publishers. It's one thing to give out 2 free games every couple of weeks, it's another to basically give away your entire library because your DRM is a little too unintrusive.
 
I'm almost entirely certain the PS3 allowed this for PSN games (UK market, not sure about other jurisdictions).

This doesn't seem like much of dangerous exploit to me as you'd need access to the person's account to download their games onto your PC, and they still need to have bought the game in the first place.

Unless we start to see black market account sharing sites or credential selling but then pretty much all listed accounts would just get locked and perma-banned so it's pretty feasible to police too.
 
Please explain your useless hate-post.

Some people just shit on everything on this side, pathetic.
As if it even requires an explanation that hasn't been gone over a thousand different ways with essays written as to why with graphs and comparison charts.

My associations with the word "ecosystem" mostly revolve around "vendor lock in", "overpriced garbage", "greedy motherfuckers", which applies to Steam even more than to Epic..
You associate those things with Steam why?
 
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I'm almost entirely certain the PS3 allowed this for PSN games (UK market, not sure about other jurisdictions).
Except the PS3 actually allowed this. It was a feature, ala family sharing. This is just Epic's DRM not bothering to check whether or not your account actually owns the game, presumably just that the launcher is running.
 

Kadayi

Banned
Because 30% is where the greediest motherfuckers of planet Earth, second to only Nvidia, are: Apple Inc.

Fuck off with this 30% BS That narratives been done to death a hundred times over. It's a sliding scale based on sales. Everyone and their grandmother knows it at this point in time, so why would you'd debase yourself here by repeating a well-worn lie? Turns out every time this horse shit gets pushed the poster in question doesn't even play on PC. I wonder if you're any different (probably not I suspect). Get back under your bridge.
 

llien

Member
I was hoping you'd say exactly this.

GameRetailerCuts_infographic-1.png



Yep, Valve is super evil and greedy simply practicing the INDUSTRY STANDARD

I thought people had enough common sense to not use "industry standard" defence to defend bullshit.
You are bringing in Sony and Microsoft, companies investing billions into development of consoles and often selling them at a loss, having physical distribution of games, to a puny online stores, fucking seriously?

Industry standard, my arse. It was industry standard to rip people off on roaming charges. And then EU commission came and ask "what the fuck, motherfuckers, 3 euros per minute, are you out of your greedy minds"? Oh and it first went down to 70 cents max. Then to even lower point. And is now at ZERO for a market with wildly different GDP Per capita levels and about 500 million of population. And guess what, none of the motherfuckers went bankrupt from it. So let that "industry standard" bullshit die, thank you very much.

Oh, but it was many companies, oh, but they all were doing that shit, oh and couldn't people vote with their wallet and yada yada,
No, that doesn't work sometimes, obviously.

And, 'oh, can't Gabe just drop Valve's cut to 12% and still be profitable as fuck" he sure can.
But, wait for it, greed.
So I hope by the time he actually will be forced to do it, we'll have a store like Epic (or any other, or more than one) with sizeable share of the market.

Why would gamers be against online stores getting a smaller cut of game revenue is beyond me, but that's just me I guess.
 
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llien

Member
Do you have any proof that it would still be viable? Do you have any experience in the field or are you just talking out of your ass?

Oh "do you have experience in selling software to millions of people online, to dare judge Gabe's uber-greateness, you worm", are you kidding me?
 

Helios

Member
Oh "do you have experience in selling software to millions of people online, to dare judge Gabe's uber-greateness, you worm", are you kidding me?
Nice argument. At least you made it clear you have no idea what you're talking about and just paint everyone that disagrees with you as a fanboy.
 
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I thought people had enough common sense to not use "industry standard" defence to defend bullshit.
You are bringing in Sony and Microsoft, companies investing billions into development of consoles and often selling them at a loss, having physical distribution of games, to a puny online stores, fucking seriously?

Industry standard, my arse. It was industry standard to rip people off on roaming charges. And then EU commission came and ask "what the fuck, motherfuckers, 3 euros per minute, are you out of your greedy minds"? Oh and it first went down to 70 cents max. Then to even lower point. And is now at ZERO for a market with wildly different GDP Per capita levels and about 500 million of population. And guess what, none of the motherfuckers went bankrupt from it. So let that "industry standard" bullshit die, thank you very much.

Oh, but it was many companies, oh, but they all were doing that shit, oh and couldn't people vote with their wallet and yada yada,
No, that doesn't work sometimes, obviously.

And, 'oh, can't Gabe just drop Valve's cut to 12% and still be profitable as fuck" he sure can.
But, wait for it, greed.
So I hope by the time he actually will be forced to do it, we'll have a store like Epic (or any other, or more than one) with sizeable share of the market.

Why would gamers be against online stores getting a smaller cut of game revenue is beyond me, but that's just me I guess.
Puny online store? Steam has hundreds of millions of users and 13-18 million are active daily, there's 10 million concurrent users on right now. You have no idea what you're talking about.

The industry standard exists and is based upon a model of sustainability, what it costs to operate plus a profit margin. The number doesn't just exist to get rich although that comes along with it naturally when you get into literally billions of video game units sold.

Valve is the gatekeeper to some 40,000 odd games, they have to host all of that globally and pay for the data centers. They have to pay for the bandwidth usage from those data centers whenever someone downloads a game. They have to continually innovate to keep their platform in peak form, keep people interested, develop new features and quality of life additions. They have to develop and offer the tools for publishers and developers alike to make proper use of their platform, their DRM solutions, anti-cheat, achievements, other extenuating community features such as market capabilities and modding integration.

What does Valve also do? They pioneered the tools for modern VR that developers can easily make use of, they have a fully operational support staff, 400'ish employees constantly making sure things are great and up and running for the developer and customer. They eat regional transaction fees which is something EGS does not do, they offer an integrated message board system where people can directly interface with other owners and developers.

Refunds? They pioneered that, trading and gifting? They pioneered that, a digital marketplace and economy? They pioneered that. Cloud saving? They pioneered that. Valve and Steam are the #1 and sole reason the PC business has continued to be successful, it was on the verge of a crash before they started offering a sales platform in 2005. They roadmapped the entire digital market as you know it today.

Xbox store, PlayStation store, eShop, Origin, GOG Galaxy, Uplay, EGS, all of them. They are functioning on the back of the groundwork Valve laid for all of this to exist.

EGS doesn't not have a sustainable model, if Fortnite goes tits up they're in hot water because it's the only thing keeping their little experiment in digital distribution afloat. They're operating at a loss because they presently can hoping they can get their venture off the ground so they can find another way to sustain it. It's losing them money not just in terms of every unit sold but also on the back of paying out absurd amount of money to get timed exclusive games and giving games away.

This is a capitalist business, we live in a capitalist society. Developers and publishers known 30% is a fair offering because they don't have to do a damn thing, Valve handles everything and creates all the exposure for their games while sustaining mostly all the risk.

You're fucking clueless.
 

llien

Member
The industry standard exists and is based upon a model of sustainability, what it costs to operate plus a profit margin.
Yeah. That is why we had outrageous roaming prices. Oh wait...

It is BEYOND OBVIOUS that the 30% cut for Valve is obscene. Shop software distribution uh, how on earth could that cost billions to maintain? Entire WhatsApp with 500 million users was run with a team of 50 for at most low two digit millions a year.

Nice argument. At least you made it clear you have no idea what you're talking about and just paint everyone that disagrees with you as a fanboy.
The lovely part is you not noticing how self-defeating your argument is. So you are sure that the obscene, apple level 30% cut is OK, because obviously you are in business of in selling software to millions of people online, right?
 

Shifty

Member
That's a great feature, nice to hear that they're really getting a boogie on when it comes to that roadmap.

AHAHAHAHA WHAT A FUCKING BODGE JOB 😂 I love it when fools try to forge ahead without prep and end up with a well-deserved faceplant.

Yeah. That is why we had outrageous roaming prices. Oh wait...

It is BEYOND OBVIOUS that the 30% cut for Valve is obscene. Shop software distribution uh, how on earth could that cost billions to maintain? Entire WhatsApp with 500 million users was run with a team of 50 for at most low two digit millions a year.


The lovely part is you not noticing how self-defeating your argument is. So you are sure that the obscene, apple level 30% cut is OK, because obviously you are in business of in selling software to millions of people online, right?
How about you shift your argument to focus on the rest of the industry as well then, if this 30% is so deplorable?

It's incongruous that you'd specifically pick Valve, or would be if the garbage Sweeney Politic wasn't blatantly the basis for your stance.
 
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llien

Member
How about you shift your argument to focus on the rest of the industry as well then, if this 30% is so deplorable?
I gave you a concrete example of "but everyone is doing it, so it must be reasonable" being apparently wrong, let me point it out again: roaming prices.

It's incongruous that you'd specifically pick Valve
In a context of software stores selling games, which other bigger Sweene is there, to pick up instead of Gabe's Valve?
 

Sentenza

Member
My associations with the word "ecosystem" mostly revolve around "vendor lock in", "overpriced garbage", "greedy motherfuckers", which applies to Steam even more than to Epic..
So you're saying you are delusional.

I thought people had enough common sense to not use "industry standard" defence to defend bullshit.
You are bringing in Sony and Microsoft, companies investing billions into development of consoles.
Not to mention they giving away these consoles for free, right?

Complains against people using "bullshit arguments".
Uses the most hilariously laughable bullshit argument around himself.
 
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