Microsoft bans 600K Xbox Live Accounts, More to Follow

A conversation with an MS rep has yielded a disturbing truth: Microsoft has started its annual Xbox Live banning spree and it has disabled 600,000 accounts so far in the US and Canada

[Gamer6056]

Wow thats a lot

[Saaking]

so 1 million+ banned when it's all said and done? That's way too much. No wonder piracy is rampant on the 360. And that's just in NA.

[ambientFLIER]

1 million banned out of 20+ million live users would be 5%, which sounds about right, is not "rampant", and what everyone expected. How about you stfu and go do what you do best, trolling the open zone?

[Sarcasm]

"1 million banned out of 20+ million live users would be 5%"

Last I checked, 1 million is still 1 million. That's a very large number of people.

Even if it's 1 million out of 100 million, it's still ONE FRIGGIN MILLION!!!

Granted we're still at 600,000. But if it does hit 1 million, please don't spin like that's not a huge number. Because if 1 million pirates don't buy 10 games each, that's over 10,000,000 copies pirated.

[ambientFLIER]

What do I have to be butthurt about? Nothing...

Btw, a number on its own sounds huge, but when you use percentages to put it into perspective, it's a bit different. 5% is nothing compared to how many people pirate PC games, it's probably more like 25% and 25 million people, yet I don't see you talking about them...

[Shepherd 214]

yea its alot. Serves the bastards right.

[Timesplitter14]

That's a lot of delicious pirate tears.

Enough to sink their boat.

DOHOHOHO

[beardpapa]

Pretty much ... ban all those guys so there's 600k+ sales of 360s to show for December. Since ... from what I read, a banned account also links to the system, so the system isn't even able to download updates, XBLA, demos, install games to the harddrive, windows media center, and other features relevant to silver and gold members.

[WenisWagon]

That's more than the total number of accounts on the playstation network. Just goes to show how popular Xbox Live really is.

[RememberThe357]

Aren't they banning cheaters? I hate cheaters, ban all those assholes. I'm not even on Live anymore and I'm glad to see this.

[freeblue]

someone in MS needs to move a little bit more consoles i guess. numbers are slowdown a bit.

[rob6021]

Well Most people who mod their console wouldn't be stupid enough to plug it into the internet so Microsoft can detect their console, so I'm sure your 5% is much higher.

[ABizzel1]

This is a good step towards getting the people pirating games on the 360, yet you people are acting as if MS's banning is wrong. 1,00,000 IS A LOT, that's $60,000,000 dollars per game that developers are missing out on, because people are stealing games. They are hurting developers of good games, because the funds they're losing from pirates could be used to make better games down the line.

The thing is this banning won't stop gamers unless they just have to play online, since they can still play the pirated games offline (unless MS has a super ban). MS should RROPD (Red Ring of Pirate Death) the 360's playing pirated games.

[DelbertGrady]

MS are doing the developers a favor with this. They are the ones gaining the most out of it. MS loses Live customers by banning. But go on, spin into "teh M$ is evilest" as you always do :)

[topdawg122]

This is a good move in the long run, good job MS. Stop them Buttpirates

[Why o why]

for the devs as soda said, for current xbl users as there will be less traffic and for ms for those who may feel the need to buy another 360. This really isnt a bad thing

[vhero]

thats gotta be more than 5% try about 30% there's no way 20million+ subscribers actually PAY for gold. The rest will be silver and you gotta remember only a small percentage of pirates got banned trust me so if 600k got banned.... Makes you wonder how big piracy is on the 360? Them numbers are really gonna worry 3rd party devs.

[SL1M DADDY]

It's a shame that both platforms have not made BD their primary format of choice to help combat the piracy issues. It's a known fact that BD is not a target for rampant piracy yet and has a couple more years left in it.

[kikicub]

600,000 new Xbox 360s sold to go around the ban. Way to inflate your numbers, MS!

Now, I do believe they should ban the users, not the consoles. Piracy blows big time.

[tordavis]

If they ban the user, they can just make a new Live account. That's why you ban the CONSOLE!

Hurry for Microsoft! I'm enjoying this. I hate piracy.

[BrianC6234]

"1 million banned out of 20+ million live users would be 5%, which sounds about right, is not "rampant","

That sounds rampant to me. So 600,000 modified 360s isn't a lot? Stop with the 5% nonsense. That's a lot of pirates. Why would anyone need to modify their console? The only reason is to play pirated copies of games. The reason PC gaming is dying is a lot of PC gamers don't buy games, they pirate them. Pirating hurts everyone eventually if it isn't dealt with.

[Elven6]

I find it funny how people here try to defend the pirates or claim this is a Microsoft scam.

If you guys like playing with hackers, pirates, etc then by all means go ahead. But Xbox Live is a PAID service and has to guarantee SOME level of quality which can be achieved by banning those who don't play nice.

[PinkUni]

microsoft probably makes the system so its available to piracy

they probably let a huge number of people pirate so they could ban them and force them to buy new 360

[frostypants]

I fully support Microsoft on this one. This all reminds me of that one exchange in "Liar, Liar":

Greta: "Boss, it's Skull. He knocked over another ATM. This time at knife point. He needs your legal advice."
Fletcher: [picking up phone and shouting] "Stop breaking the law, a**hole!"

I mean these dumbasses commit theft, and they complain when they get called out for it? Gimme a break. They're lucky Microsoft doesn't destroy them financially.

When you're so addicted to gaming that you will resort to theft to play them rather than paying like everyone else, it's time to re-evaluate your life.

@1.2: They should ban both the console AND the user AND the user's registered credit card if applicable.

[mfwahwah]

@1.5

"Btw, a number on its own sounds huge, but when you use percentages to put it into perspective, it's a bit different."

News: In local news, 10,000 people are left dead after a local bombing (...)

Me: Oh my God that's terrible :o

News: (...)But the other 90,000 people who were at the scene were left unharmed.

Me: Oh in THAT case **** those 10k that's nothing.

Doesn't make much sense to me to think that way but ooooookay.

[corneliuscrust]

with this site?

MS BANS pirates and they're getting slammed because the pirates were there in the first place?

"rampant" or "not rampant" MS is doing the right thing here

[gaffyh]

600k less XBL subscriptions, 600k less game sales, but these guys are so stupid, they'll buy another console, pirate games again, and pay for XBL again.

[Elaine Benes]

....im usually the first person to drop f bombs in any given scenario.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

There is nothing wrong with this site, it just happens to attract a lot of fanboys. Since there are far more Sony fanboys then there are MS, you see the state here.

[glennc]

i love how a ps3 fanboy can spin this to MS wantng more console sales.

classic n4g

[f789790]

I love modding. Not because of pirating but because it opens up so many options.

[sikbeta]

Maybe It has to do with MW2 in some way, kodick advice them to hunt gaming Pirates to not see teh salez affected in any way, but they aren't f*cking people that bought MW2 before release date right?

Well at least we have real confirmation about piracy in the xbox, zealots deny it al the time

[indysurfn]

I have a friend that has had his modded from early summer, and he said his machine is disabled for online, but not his GOLD account. That jives with another story that said they where going to ban machines. I think they are trying to allow people that get banned to get legit machines. But allow them to stay live customers.

My friend is PISSED! I tried to warn him. Anyway he is the only person I know that DID get their machine modded. I know another that WAS planning, and seeking a modder. Not anymore!

This is kinda funny that they waited until JUST before modern warfare came out! People that thought they where going to play it free on live got a rude awakening. Now they will have to buy the game AND a machine. If they want to play it online. Strangely the gold account is just fine!

[qface64]

YEAH we already got your money were gonna ban you now and watch you go crawling back to get another account lol

i dunno seems funny to me

[The Creep]

once your banned you have to get a whole new 360 altogether

[Godmars290]

At least until pirates figure out a a way to change a 360's ID. If the ever.

[edwineverready]

Well they just sold another 600.000 Xbox360. They just saved the holidays.

[qface64]

really?
wow i thought you just had to pay like for another XBL account or something
that is much worse

[vhero]

Thats the whole point they always do the banning sprees before the holidays to boost console sales nothing more. It will backfire this year though thanks to the lower price PS3 it will drive consumers away as most them people will trade in their 360's.

[corneliuscrust]

with a modded console know playing online is playing with fire...just a matter of time

I'm willing to bet most of them will just keep right on pirating and playing offline.

[kingnick]

Look at it logically, they (pirates) got the 360 is the first place so they could pirate games, why are they now going to buy a PS3 and games (which are generally more expensive and harder to trade-in, at least in Aus).

The way some people spin news around here you'd think they work for Microsoft/Nintendo/Sony.

[sikbeta]

Yeah, but they might think to pay to play online and with the PS3 you don't have a fee to pay like that so they can consider it, piracy is getting more and more harder to do, by the next gen a single firmware will f*ck (ban) a modded console and there goes your piracy b*tch lol

[kingnick]

If anything they will get another 360 and use that for legit, online gaming.

There are people who will buy two of a console and pirate all the games they're not interested in playing online for one and keep the other for legit online gaming because it is still cheaper then buying dozens of games.

Only consoles I've got modded were PS1 & 2 to import games such as Final Fantasy X International that were never released in Australia.

Being in the PAL region isn't that much of an issue this gen for the PS3 and Xbox360. No mods overcome the region locking on 360 making them of 0% interest to me.

I would buy more games if the Xbox360 was region free but because it isn't I'm just more selective when deciding what games to buy.

[Jsynn7]

Wow. A million by the end of the holidays? That's crazy. I can imagine bratty teenage kids calling in saying those stupid things and threatening to sue like they have Phds in law. Oh well, I guess they'll migrate over to the PS3 (but I'm sure they'll pull the same crap and get banned from there too). In the end, is it really worth it? Get a job and buy the games. If your one of those bratty children/teens who are super dependent on your parents, cry to mommy and daddy to get you a game. LOLZ to this kids. So sad.

[KingKionic]

Stepto is not playing this year .

lol

[Raoh]

Is this just live accounts or consoles or both?

my console got banned but not my gamertag..

[Hisiru]

I think it's the console. They will have to buy another console if they want to play online.

[itchy18]

wtf man? why would they ban your console when you payed for it? my god. that's horrible man. so what did you do? buy another one?

[iHEARTboobs]

..since that's what is modded. But you can still play pirated games on it, just not on LIVE. You'd have to get a new console to play online.

[Hisiru]

Yes, you have to buy another one if you want to play online. Pretty sad, huh?

It's good to see that my consoles aren't hacked.

[BX81]

That's crazy and here is why! I can only imagine how many banned consoles are being sold on ebay or traded in to gamestop. Now who ever buys that console is F'd ! If I understand this correctly? That would really suck.

[vhero]

Yeah I find the whole thing kinda funny how they still allow you to play pirate games on the console even though they accusing you.

[cl63AMG]

Wow, who knew there were that high a number of pirates. Odd since I don't know one personally...

[mfwahwah]

?

That's a potential one million out of TENS OF MILLIONS.

Do you personally know TENS OF MILLIONS of Xbox 360 owners? No? Then wtf is so surprising?

[kaveti6616]

The banhammer is hungry.

[Lykon]

good time to change consoles. surrender and join the winning side M$ don't deserve anyones money, my sympathy is for the modders.

[Pirateogta]

Then you're not a true gamer.

[topdawg122]

Support those that make these games for you, freakin buttpirate. Good move by MS

[4point7BillionLoss]

Think piracy is a good thing....

no wonder Sony lost $4.7 Billion ..... idiots

[Lykon]

pirateogta .... depends on yr definition of a "true gamer" . i don't mod hardware and don't use pirate software but in this case i have sympathy for the 360 modders , i've observed how M$ opertate tho from licensing thier pc software on a yearly basis to selling consoles that break, they dominate and control as much as possible, am so grateful for the quality alternative, which i support fully and honestly.

top dawg ... you homophobic moron, i can see xbox live is the right place for you, stay there.

4 piont ... im not saying that piracy is good , but in this case i think the greater wrong has been done by M$.

[radzy]

i think m$oft just shot itself in the foot. even though they were trying to stop piracy.
a big error m$oft has done is bann gamer tags (less revenue for them)
and now bann over 600,000 of its xbox live users (not only less revenue but switching sides to the ps3 , which i dare say is the cheaper option. xbox live is so expensive, and it adds up every time you redeem)
and this talk about 20,000,000 is total bullshit , its not even half that.
nearly everyone i know has about 10 different gamertags.

and by the way fukc you M$oft, lol

[AngryTypingGuy]

Lykon, you are a retard. Not just a retard, but one of the most retarded among the retarded.

How can you say a company disgusts you for penalizing people who pirate their software? You later say that you don't like how they license their PC software...but that is their prerogative and it doesn't change the fact that people are stealing. If you like Sony better, that's cool...but to support those that are modding consoles and stealing games is just dumb.

[Lykon]

"Lykon, you are a retard. Not just a retard, but one of the most retarded among the retarded."

angrytypingguy LMAO ,,, funny . oh come on man were in the open zone, let your inner 14 yr old out. I hate M$ , they are banning 1,000,000 of thier own live subscribers . That is funny sh1t, thats one point to sony. and i just seen some other news about sony being arrogant. Come on xbots , own the truth....the 360 break, M$ have been on the wrong side of the law so many times with illegal marketing practices etc , thier software fails and thier employees are pig dog ugerly overeating stressed execs with no mind of thier own. come on. I know the japs bombed pearl harbour and all that but hey they make the best console (as well as the worst ie the wii) GET REAL.

[mt]

because those people will buy new consoles to play online .

microsoft it is your game .

[Sarcasm]

That or they say screw it and just go back to pirating PC games.

[Briefcase Joe]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ...HA!!! FVCK YOU PIRATES!!!

I wonder how many are innocent people who were fvcked over by those dirty pirates. I'm hoping >1%.

You shouldn't buy used consoles this generation, if you don't know what you are buying. Shady people try to sell their broken or modded things to unsuspecting buyers.

[Briefcase Joe]

The thieves not only stole games, they stole my bubbles! Hahaha. Take them. I don't really give a fvck. I just wanted to point that out. I think it's pretty funny.

[Mc Fadge]

The fact that your "less than" sign looks like >

[vhero]

Anybody who did the new hard drive hack got screwed over and there was a good number of people!

[vmanj]

hopefully i didnt get banned cause im at uni n my 360z bak home.Havent touched it for a couple of monthz but i was looking forward to pirating n playing all the gamez ive missed!

oh well if my 360 survived this ill buy legit gamez from now on if not than ps3 here i come.....

[Scott667]

Just a tip, vmanj, please pay for your games. You do realise that 100s of people spend years of their lives working on multi-million dollar projects and pirating games is effectively stealing money from ALL of those people (the corperate CEOs and the hard-working dev teams that work so hard to create the games that you play).

If you pirate games you are effectively trying to kill the game industry, if you don't pay for what you play then you are almost ensuring that companies will go out of business.

Source: My Father, who is now unemployeed because the game studio that he was working for was closed down for not making enough money due to piracy.

[PLAYSTATIONGENRATION]

Those poor poor developers don't get paid even more

[BX81]

@Scott that sux pimp. Don't listen to PSgeneration, he seems to be a d-bag! Just because someone makes more money than you doesn't give you the right to steal from them. Hope ur pops found a new job.

[sorceror171]

Scott667 - sorry to hear about your dad. I still have to say, though, that piracy was probably not the only factor that led to the developer closing.

As the cryptographic expert Bruce Schneier wrote, "Trying to make bits uncopyable is like trying to make water not wet. The sooner people accept this, and build business models that take this into account, the sooner people will start making money again." That's one of the reasons the industry's shifting to DLC and episodic content and online services; it's much harder to copy that stuff.

There's also the idea that Valve floated a while back, that "pirates are underserved customers". I think the industry's price points and budgets are probably too high. Not to say that there's no market for blockbusters, but I think smaller games, developed faster, will be the way of the future.

(That said, I *don't* pirate games. If a company makes something I like, I vote with my dollars in the hope they'll make more.)

[nemesis enforcer]

It's not strange, but is just starting, is almost 2% of the total consoles sold.
I always thought that piracy is rampant in Xbox360, and this is a real evidence... Maybe the real reason behind Xbox360 succes or i'm just overreacting? What's the real percentage of modded consoles?... Or just face the truth, pirates really like XBL because it worth, they paid for it and MS should accept their cash to overthrow the free PSN that works in an unmodded ps3 that plays unpirated games? Is Piracy the best weapon, the H-Bomb MS must use in their struggle against Sony and Nintendo? Pirates will create their own PXBL?

I'm not justifing piracy, it's cancer, managed by mafias, don't like it, but the truth we see in the videogame history is that high piracy CAN be attached to a success in a particular console (i.e. ps1, ps2, psp-1000, psp-2000)... And one of the reasons to failures (i.e. Dreamcast, Xbox)...

[Persistantthug]

Piracy isn't the reason Dreamcast failed....

PS2 was the reason Dreamcast failed.

[electricshadow]

HA.

[jack who]

ban them alll..... n btw a friend of a friend of a sister of a friend said a friend can fly

[Ninji]

Tell your friend of a friend of a sister of a friend of a friend congrats on their pilot's license.

[LordMarius]

idiots, this is the only way they can get more sales, by making the bots buy their console over again

[SixZeroFour]

making them buy another one? you mean ms has someone with a gun to every pirates heads forcing them to buy another xbox? wow thats news to me

modders knew what they were doing was illegal and anyone that says otherwise is pretty idiotic in my eyes...and obviously punishment follows when criminal is caught

if they buy another xbox then so be it...but this could also mean that ps3 gets some former xbox-only console owners especially with its current price

[testerg35]

I wonder how many PS2s, PSPs, DS, Wii are hacked. Weird thing is the 360, DS, PS2s, and DSs still sell and so does their software.

[Raoh]

my console got banned. selling it off to people who want a banned console to play offline..

canceled my LIVE account on the spot..

going to be just a PS3 and PC gamer

[electricshadow]

Welcome to the dark side. :)

[RockmanII7]

No one will miss you, you filthy pirate

[rpgenius420]

I will never be banned!

[OmarJA]

Poor MGR & OWNED. :(

[mistajeff]

I'd be interested to see what percentage of their systems sold have been hacked or modded or whatever. It seems a lot more common than I originally thought. Obviously they'd never release a statistic like that, but I'm still curious.

[alphakennybody]

its a strategy to move the current 360 owners to the new xbox+ consoles :/

[pixelsword]

I'll have to check.

[juanvan]

Or consoles?
B/c that is A LOT of accounts.. Consoles not so much, b/c I am sure there is more offline then online when you think about all the places that don't have good enough/xbl service.

[Neo604]

There goes $60. just a reminder if you don't cancel the live account they still charge you for the next year.

[rob6021]

So this is how Microsoft hopes to compete with PS3Slim sales this holiday?? You just know a lot of the people doing the walmart deal were modders that got banned. Not to mention they do it right before MW2 comes out, who wants to play that game if you can't go online? same with lfd2.

[Major_Failson]

LOL way to own yourself peniswagon last i heard there were equal number off accounts on live and psn but according to your logic the ps3 online user base has gone from 18 or so million accounts to 600k, wow your retarded.

Now hurry and get onto your multiple accounts to keep your bubbles at 5.

[Gobot]

Yo, ho...

[Major_Failson]

Says the troll coming into the gamerzone.

[Neo604]

Another 600,000 xbox sold.
I heard a lot about people buy new xbox cause old one rrod.
It will work.
I didn't even realize it.

[Scriptor]

ehh MS bans people, then they just get a PS3 or they swap console internals and return them to walmart =D. Other people buy another console but its still worth it, if you downloaded 10 games at 60 bucks, thats $600, so if you got banned, just buy another xbox for $200. still saving $400. Either way you win....

unfortunately I was banned also, I've moved on to PS3.

[RockmanII7]

Ha Ha

[Neo604]

Most games they play is for online, for sure they have to buy another.

MS: Cumshot
xbot: facial

again.

[MetalGearRisingBan]

THAT'S WHAT THEY SUPPORT MS FOR!?? OH BOYNESS! HOW CAN 360 FANBOYS CAN BE BLIND FROM THAT TRUTH!?

[4point7BillionLoss]

how can oh boy you can speak you can

Sony Fail Droid alert ...

[Fatal Blow]

No call of duty modern warfare 2 for them lol

600,000 accounts is a lot of xbox360's plus am sure it's gonna be more counting soon that serves them right for playing free games or so they thought

[Feral Gamer]

I'm glad they're doing something about it, even though I don't own a 360.

[psycho360]

NOt a laughing matter. You'd think all 600K plus would be active pirates? How about people buying used consoles from stores or from their friends and ended up getting ban even if they were playing legit games but the system was hacked?

Anyway, this will make LIVE much lonely place for sometime but expect arcade units boom in next few weeks. M$ gets their money

[Feral Gamer]

Sorry, but buying a used 360 would be a huge mistake for anyone, regardless. I always buy new consoles for the manufacturer's warranty, except my DSi and PSP.

[psycho360]

NOt everyone can afford to buy a new 360. Not everyone is working full time and can afford any console. There are always deals going on through ebay or other sites. Are you sure if you buy even a new one from some store that someone hasnt returned it back swapping with flashed console?

[MaximusPrime]

Piracy is a very bad thing. MS lost a lot of money thru piracy.
I say good on MS. When they say "enough", they mean it.

[JeepGamer]

It's just a shame that they can't legally brick the consoles too.

[psycho360]

LOL too easy to reply man.

[El Nino]

This is good news

glad something is being done about it

[volcane]

If you pirate games, you are basically a thief. How many of these thieves go in to shops and steal from them, not many I wager, but just because they can mod their system they think it is alright to do so.

Just cheapskates who want something for nothing.

[111111]

Some people like homebrew stuff. Others copy their own games because the dvd drive is slowly but surely wrecking their legally purchased original discs. Please do not call these people thiefs. Microsoft bans them nonetheless.

[ReviewsArePolitics]

WenisWagon looks like his avatar, that's why he's so bitter

[chase167]

this must be M$ plans to out sale the ps3 this Christmas

[tawak]

now you get it,people who buys another doesn't know this

[shikwan]

my Yearly $50 subscription being put to work!

It takes a lot of $$$ & resources to track & smack these pirates.
So I know MS is putting the $4 p/mo to good use in an effort to keep XBL clean. Bet you'll never hear bout Sony banning people-do you ever?-let alone banning their consoles!

[Scriptor]

I'm not saying this because I'm some sort of fan, I love both the xbox which I own and a ps3 which I just got.

if xbox wasn't so easy to crack that anyone can do it, then there would be no piracy. ps3 on the other hand is yet to be figured out. which puts me to my next comment, PSN is not banning anyone because it has not been cracked yet. meaning that sony is doing something right unlike xbox.

[N4GayFanturds]

It's not about being EASY...it ain't easy!

IMO
Pirates & hackers are more REPUTABLE when/if they crack something with a tag that says; 'Microsoft'.

The same goes for the OS's; No one becomes popular from cracking or instilling a virus on any MAC OS. So they don't put up as great of an effort-whereas Windows, being the (I won't say popular but more:) PREVELANT OS attracts more pirates/hackers, etc.

[cronaldo7]

XBOX Live is faster now.

[spinbot_lv1]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

this shows very well the reality...xbox360 owners with 3 or more modded console.the sad truth is: microsoft ban them, they buy and mod a new xbox360.

[tojfrd7931z]

And get banned again!

[silvacrest]

600K in the US and canada alone is alot

imagine the final numbers when the rest of the world gets the ban hammer

[gumgum99]

Look at how many people that want to "buy" 360 games ^_^

[Cajun Chicken]

No wonder the majority of 360 players can afford XBL Gold...they didn't buy the games!

[LoLZoRz]

wooo xbox live ftl

[sGIBMBR]

So what you're saying is, their was 1 million people pirating games for the xbox 360, and yet, the game sales are still more than that of their competition? hummmm...

Interesting!

[Rocco Siffredi]

I just got banned and i never played online, lol. today i just wanted to updated my gamertag (was offline for 3 weeks and played only Borderlands and forza3) and i got this message.

Now, i wont buy a 360 anymore.., i think i will buy a PS3 now.

[badbond1]

the games. Xbox is losing ground no doubt. Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2 are on the PS3 and there is no drop off in quality on MW2 for the PS3. GOW collection will be an experience Botty boys, trust me, you'll have less negative comments regarding the PS3 after playing 1 & 2 and the demo. Soon, you be hanging off Sonys nutts when GT5, Heavy Rain and GOW III drop. Trust me! The first qtr is not looking as promising for you bots.

Anyone have the nerve to say the 360 had better games than PS3 in 2009.

I didn't think so.

[EVILDEAD360]

Talk about a win-win for Microsoft:

1. Send the biggest message to the pirating community.

2. Even if only 50% of the folks who are banned renew accounts and consoles, you have another 300K consoles sold and 15 Million dollars in XBL revenue.

3. Announcements like this are the biggest detterence to future pirates. (which is all you can do)

I know people who have modded Xboxes and because of whats happened in the recent past, they have either bought new 360s to play with online or they get lulled into a false sense of security 'Micosoft won't ban me.'

The best part about it is that these lump sum bannings always coincide with a huge game release requiring LIVE to enjoy the full experience. This time it was on the eve of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Tslk about Checkmate!

I wouldn't risk my account and achievements for a million years. Those with who do end up gaming on 'eggshells'. 600K may seem like a big number, but how many modded PSPs do you see with no way at all to ban the pirates.

Evil

[silvacrest]

pirates are pirates because they dont want to buy full price stuff so i would expect most to the following to happen

RROD there own console and have M$ replace it, this isnt garunteed but it has worked

buy just the box at ebay, craigs list, gumtree etc

my point is, dont expect a massive spike in hardware sales as most pirates are smart enough to no that buying just a pre owned box will always be cheaper then buying an arcade

[Grandreaper9999]

"Repurchase" is the name of the game.

[111111]

They ban randomly to not lose too many customers. They ban to scare the sh]t outta you; the customer. If their customer service didnt already do the trick that is. Not very clever, but hey its microsoft, they totally can do that.

[bjornbear]

MS always find a way to get their customers to buy their consoles....AGAIN! -_-

[Kizwiz6]

'customers'..?

[tojfrd7931z]

Its not kids that are hacking and modding their xboxes!???! DUH!

[SuperStrokey1123]

Well mine is banned for some reason which is super (sarcasm). I never used my 360 online either as I just used it for arcade games and single player ones. However now i cant download that games off the store that i want anymore... i dont see why they would ban use of the store to people.

[Pwee]

Whoa!!

[Father Murder X]

600,000 x 50.00= 30,000,000 dollars of Live accounts cancelled

Funny thing is that there are no refunds. MS loses nothing by banning these folks. Many will just get new accounts which means more money for M$. Brilliant indeed!!!

Watch the SDF claim that now those people are going to buy Ps3's.

[Scriptor]

MS banned consoles not account.

[tawak]

xbox360(if banned) - offline
ps3 - online

only hanfulls of games has good online game like me i only
played cod5 nazi zombies and mw2 while the rest goes for single

[sedx]

LOL Microsoft bans on the wrong time since ps3 is 299$ now...all those banned people are going to get a ps3

by the way this is microsoft fault....if they knew how to make a system pitate games wouldnt be a problem...now there going to be loosing a lot of costumers ,which they are going to buy a ps3 or still pirate games for pc

[Persistantthug]

Right at the holiday season....lol.

Right at the eve of the consoles most popular shooter outside of Halo 3., but possibly to outsell even that.

MS just PWNED the pirates.....bad.

And if they do go to PS3, they still have to shell out 300 smackers. They still have to buy games, they can't pirate anymore, and they leave behind all of their 360 games (pirated, legit, or otherwise), game stats, friends, money (points), etc.

PWNED.

Merry Christmas Pirates, and have a happy new year.

[rodeoo]

when my xbox gets banned ill just buy a new one to go with my 100+ game library....Its realy that big of a deal. what gets these people busted is playing games early and not making sure there games are properly stealthed.

[kingeb085]

i see you m$, trying to boost up your sales by making people buy new 360's lol.

I see what they are doing though, stealing games is wrong and people should be punished. I also think game prices should come down so people wont feel the need for pirate them or at least the ones that do it because they don't want to keep pulling out 60 dollars for a game. In the end we know what happens when you pirate if you take the chance and get caught, you only have yourself to blame.

[Biggunz]

the

[Horny]

I rather them take care of hackers, for example ppl with modded controllers who ruin the gameplay experience for others. I dont give a crap about pirates they dont hurt me. Im not for piracy, i know i said ill burn MW2 but i just wont play it at all.
I believe the reason piracy is so bad right now is because games are more expensive, and renting games is double the price this gen.
If game prices go back to 50 and renting games back to 5 dollars next gen im sure it will cut down on piracy.

[Arnon]

Amazing...

Microsoft does something great for the console industry, and yet somehow, everybody is able to turn it around to "Go figure Microsoft would do this. They need more console sales."

[artsaber]

Yeah, I am kinda tired of the "poor cheated" developers who charge more for less. All they care about is their bottom line. They are not our friends, very few actually care about the quality of their products anymore... and try to strong arm gamers into accepting garbage or garbage tactics for top dollar. I understand pirating, I get it, but it is not for everyone.

Pirating has little to nothing to do with cheaters. Ban pirates, but let people run rampant online with Lag switches, Modded controllers that rapid fire DEagles, thanks but no thanks. Pirates don't hurt me one bit. Games are $60 on a DVD9 before the first pirate figured out a way to burn 360 games. If there wasn't 1 single pirate in existance the price would still be $60 (or more). I have no sympathy for developers, nor do I have for pirates... most pirates know the risk upfront before modding a 360. I do feel a tiny bit bad for people who just want to mod a hdd to use because Microsoft's pricing is so unfair.

[superfedya]

OMG! 600k accs O___O poor pirates :D

[cpuchess]

Good job Microsoft, keep at it...

[Gwizz91]

Well atleast they can still play there xbox offline lol

[skbkoy65]

GOT BANNED THIS MORN B***H A*S MICROSOFT BANNED ME TO SMH ILL JUZ GET ANOTHER XBOX FOR 30 AN MOD THT ONE 2

[LFC1EE]

Yes alot have been caught and i mean alot just in the uk everybody is at it, why they got caught the last firmware update was wave 3 now with the new cod mw2 is wave 4 ms do it sometimes to try to stop the pirates though the pirates just update there xboxs with a new firmware wave4 now.

Cod mw2 was out on pirate 3 weeks ago and the pirate comunity warned fellow pirates that they didn't know the game was stealted and not to sign in tio xb live but a lot of them didn't listen ms doe’s a huge scan every nov and it catches all those pirates that play there games before there out because there only retailed stealted.

[ReBurn]

Don't buy a used console, it may be banned. Between 600k and 1m are a lot of consoles banned when all is said and done. That's a lot in the supply chain.

[likedamaster]

"That's more than the total number of accounts on the playstation network. Just goes to show how popular Xbox Live really is."

You get me every time. The name and avatar is icing on the cake. Keep 'em coming.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

for Microsoft, the developers of the 360 and the industry, but I'm a little shocked by the sheer number. Are all these pirates and modders? I'd expect this many for the PC.

I'm still cynical if it will result in anything. We'll have 600K new Gold accounts/Xboxes, while Shane Kim pockets 30 million or more depending if its accounts, consoles or both. That's the big result so far.

This quote was golden: "People have been calling in around the clock and most of them are screaming teen-agers who don't understand...". So true. LOL.

[FwanK]

Har har har!

[skagrerrrr]

BANHAMMER!

[Ramses3]

Well done peniswagon, ur the first one on my ignore list!
wont be hearing from you anymore! :)

[macca28]

this is a good time for sony all these people ms p1ss off may give them a chance 2 bye ps3 this time and play online for free