Banned Xbox LIVE Users To Sue?

19 Nov 2009 at 03:01:03 by Paul Younger

A potential class action lawsuit against Microsoft has appeared following the recent spate of Xbox LIVE bannings.

The Abington IP, a boutique law firm specialising in consumer class actions, posted a form on its site for disgruntled Xbox 360 users who were banned from the LIVE service. The site asks users to post their details and take part in a class action lawsuit against Microsoft if they were not "refunded a prorated sum for the time left on your subscription". The potential action has arisen following Microsoft's  comments reiterating its ban policy and zero tolerance approach to piracy. The explanation on the Abington site reads: 

As has been reported widely in the media, tens of thousands of Xbox owners have had their modified Xbox consoles banned from Microsoft's online gaming service Xbox Live. Although modification of Xbox consoles is against the terms of use for Xbox/Xbox Live, Microsoft "conveniently" timed the Xbox console ban to occur just after the release of the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game and less than two months after the release of the very popular Halo 3: ODST game. This "convenient" timing may have resulted in more Xbox Live subscription revenues for Microsoft than it would have generated had these Xbox console bans taken place at some time before the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3: ODST. Additionally, sales of both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (published by Activision) and Halo 3: ODST (published by Microsoft Game Studios) would likely have been greatly diminished had the Xbox console ban occurred prior to the release of these games.

The logic seems slightly flawed in the explanation but it's being suggested that Microsoft wanted to squeeze a couple more months of subscriptions from known offenders before the bannings. Make of it what you will. Thanks to Blackbeard for the tip.

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