2026 looks like a pivotal year for hardware identity. Several shifts are arriving at once, and together they change how hardware IDs work.
Hardware-rooted identity becomes the norm
Microsoft's Pluton security processor is shipping in more and more new PCs, and a Windows 12 generation is expected to lean further on TPM 2.0 and Pluton. The direction is clear: a device's identity is moving from "a value in the registry" toward a cryptographically signed, firmware-rooted attestation. That makes hardware harder to track loosely — and harder to change.
Anti-cheats follow the hardware
As hardware attestation becomes standard, anti-cheats increasingly use it as their anchor. A ban tied to a firmware-rooted identity is more durable than a classic HWID ban. The practical effect: hardware-ID hygiene becomes more involved than running a one-click tool once.
Regulation enters the picture
After high-profile incidents involving low-level system software, regulators in the EU and US have started paying attention to kernel-mode anti-cheat. Where that goes is uncertain — it could push anti-cheats to be less invasive, or it could formalise their access.
What it means for you
Expect a split: casual users who never think about hardware identity, and people who treat it the way they treat antivirus or a VPN — as ongoing hygiene. The fundamentals do not change, but the layers get deeper, and keeping a clean record of your states matters more each year.