GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Xbox Live purged of up to 1 million users - Report

Information Week estimates Microsoft may have suspended 5% of service's subscribers for using modded Xbox 360s--which are now flooding Craigslist.

472 Comments

If Information Week is to be believed, Microsoft has initiated a purge of Xbox Live that would've made Stalin's head of IT proud--had the Soviet dictator had ever had one. The magazine is reporting that the software giant has suspended as many as 1 million accounts it suspects of using modded Xbox 360 consoles to play pirated games.

Microsoft's kiss-off to as many as 1 million Xbox Live users.
Microsoft's kiss-off to as many as 1 million Xbox Live users.

"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," Microsoft told Information Week in a statement.

While the methods Microsoft used to detect the modded consoles are unclear, the scale of the purge is vast. With a total subscriber base of just over 20 million, a 1-million-user ban would drop Xbox Live's population by a full 5 percent. The mass ban also arrives during the same month that the Twitter, Last.fm, and Facebook-supporting Xbox Live fall update is expected.

GameSpot sibling site CNET noticed a side effect of the ban, which many will find amusing. Currently, some 74 modded and banned Xbox 360 consoles have been posted onto the San Francisco Bay Area edition of popular goods-and-services site Craigslist.

In a sign that the ban has indeed hit software pirates, several listings posted prior to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's November 10 launch tout the fact they come with a "burnt" copy of the game. Last week, a joint private and police investigation led to the arrest of several would-be Modern Warfare 2 pirates.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Join the conversation
There are 472 comments about this story