Microsoft Bans 600,000 Gamers from Xbox Live due to Piracy

Xbox 360 owners who have played pirated video game discs in their consoles have been banned from utilizing Xbox Live online services. BBC News is reporting that Microsoft has banned a small portion of the 20 million Xbox Live users located all over the world from the online Xbox Live service for modifying their Xbox 360 console in order to allow it to play pirated video game discs.

Online reports that have been released indicate that approximately 600,000 Xbox 360 owners have been affected by the action that Microsoft has decided to take to address piracy. Gamers who have been banned managed to modify their Xbox 360 consoles with the utilization of specially designed chips or elaborate software. The banned gamers who have lost access to Xbox Live can still play legally obtained discs on the console.

A representative from Microsoft has released a statement on the company's behalf to explain the measure that was taken. The statement reads, "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. We do not reveal specifics, but can say that all consoles have been verified to have violated the terms of use."

As Microsoft clarified in their statement, the company has not revealed how they were able to discover which Xbox 360 owners had illegally altered their systems to play pirated video games.