Microsoft has suspended the subscriptions of 1 million X-Box Live users after it was discovered that they modified their consoles in order to illegally download games from file-sharing networks.
X-Box Live is the online, monthly-subscription attachment to the X-Box game console that lets subscribers play against any other subscriber via the internet if both players own the same game. It is one of the company’s main advertising points as a way to lure friendless players (as most game console addicts are), and it is also cutting-edge technology for those you are tired of playing against unskilled friends. X-Box Live can even connect players via a headset so they can communicate with one another.
X-Box 360 consoles come with a Digital Rights Management technology that detects any pirated software. The now 1 million banned users (out of 20 million subscribers) were able to circumvent DRM via modification, however.
What may have tipped Microsoft off was that files of the highly-anticipated “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ game were found on X-Box Live prior to the title’s release.
Microsoft shortly thereafter booted the 1 million.
“The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive from manufacturers, retailers, and the third parties that support them,” Microsoft said in a released statement.
“All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty, and result in a ban from Xbox Live.”
It costs about $100 to modify an X-Box. And the firm is right, if people do not buy the games then the companies will have less money to make new games. And then who loses?
