Microsoft bans thousands of Xbox 360 accounts
Microsoft is cleaning house by banning every account that looks or even smells shady. This could be the reaction to the recent rise in piracy on the Xbox 360. Apparently, not only is Microsoft banning Xbox Live accounts, but also the physical Xbox 360, permanently.
Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2 are prime examples of recent big titles that hit the BitTorrent sites way before the actual release dates. Gears of War 2 is an EPIC Games owned IP but is a Microsoft published first party title. So you can imagine how mad the execs over at Microsoft were when they found out thousands of people were downloading Gears of War 2 for free from the web.
Currently, the Xbox 360 is the easiest next gen console to pirate on. However, with the New Xbox Experience (NXE) dashboard remake, Microsoft wants to start fresh with a new image. It seems this entails banning waves of Xbox Live accounts that seems suspicious.
On the official Xbox forum and Xbox-Scene forum, users are complaining that their accounts have been banned without just cause. However, some users are admitting their shady practice of pirating games. It is all fine and dandy to ban modders and game pirates, but if innocent bystanders were banned as collateral damage then that could be a big problem for paying Xbox Live subscribers.
Another problem gamers have to worry about is buying used Xbox 360s from Ebay. Once an Xbox 360 is banned it is permanently disabled from connecting to Xbox Live. I am sure there will be an influx of used Xbox 360s going up on eBay right now.
It is said that Piracy killed gaming on the PC and the PSP faces similar problems with hardware selling disproportionately to software. Currently the Xbox 360 has the highest next generation software attach rate, but if piracy becomes widespread, it could be detrimental to the attach rate of the Xbox 360.
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16 Responses to “Microsoft bans thousands of Xbox 360 accounts”
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November 12th, 2008
You’re sure they’re banning the accounts?
Typically they ban the machine, but the account itself remains fine, so if you buy another 360 then you can use your existing gamertag.
Ill probably be banned when I reconnect my 360 to Live because I downloaded the leaked firmware
Just wanted a quiet 360 so bad 
November 12th, 2008
Bye Bye Harry, Ivan and Kevin lol, we all know those are pirating devils.
November 12th, 2008
I don’t pirate! The only person who does is Ivan, that idiot even uploads the files on his homepage!
November 12th, 2008
Nah they won’t ban you SW, they’ll just not let you connect till the NXE is officially out. Hopefully.
November 12th, 2008
I just took the plunge and connect
Not banned
November 12th, 2008
Think of those banned. Now, those that admit to pirating, remove. Most of those that don’t admit to any shady activity probably were involved in it, so remove, say, 95% of them. Those that are silent are in the same boat, except maybe less knowledgable about what to do, so remove 90% of them.
The innocent people banned, right now, are probably such a small percentage that justice was more important than saving that small percentage.
That being said, nearly all the people buying a used 360 are probably innocent and will find themselves banned because of the past owner, so depending on how many of these get sold, it certainly does become more and more unfair for the innocents.
November 12th, 2008
Now all the people banned will go out an re-purchase another 360 therefore increasing Hardware sales. Good strategy MS!!!!
November 12th, 2008
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA serves you right you filthy pirates… what dumbasses…
GOLDEN RULE FOR MODDED 360s… DONT CONNECT TO LIVE WITH THEM!!!
how stupid… have seperate consoles… one for playing the torrented games 1-2 weeks earlier than the release date… another one to connect to Live… jeez…
November 12th, 2008
Ban ‘em all! BUT, MS has GOT to provide a means whereby a legal buyer of a used console (that was probably sold off because it was banned) can be reinstated. I can’t predict the details of such a process, but there needs to be one. Otherwise, they need to give up and not ban anyone.
November 12th, 2008
That could really be a serious issue, with the banned 360’s being sold to unsuspecting innocent people. I would have to guess that they should have something in place to work around that, but jeeze what a headache.
So just out of curiosity… How does one pirate a 360? Do you need a mod-chip and then just download the file from a torrent and save it to your hard drive?
I have to admit: I have the custom firmware on my PSP. This is exactly why I don’t use it to go online, or download demos from the PSN. I only have a small handful of ISOs anyway. I am planning on buying the Kingdom Hearts and Dissidia titles.
November 12th, 2008
Well i cannot be banned i use my hack Xbox 360 only offline with a different IP address. I have never use my Gamertag for anything illegal I’m not stupid. Plus most of my online gaming is on PLAYSTATION 3.
November 12th, 2008
GET ON SOCOM YOU IVAN!!!
WTF BOURNE!!!
November 12th, 2008
@ Matt
If it were you innocent 360 that were banned I think you’d feel a tad different. From what I hear, if you are banned and you call in, MS agents treat you like crap.
So if you ever do get banned because ‘the end justifies the means’ then good luck getting it reversed
@ Barnabe Jones:
Easiest way is just to flash the firmware of the dvd drive.
November 12th, 2008
@SW
I certainly would feel differently if I were one of the ones banned.
Because I am not, I can look at it in a reasonable way, not an emotional one. If I were banned, I can assure you, I would be saying its wrong, but not because its the logical concusions to reach.
November 12th, 2008
I for one would never fuck over my legit customers to catch a few pirates…
Each to his own.
November 12th, 2008
darkwhitehair:
SOCOM for PS3?