MS issues bans for XBL Marketplace Theft

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 7 September, 2011

Has "clear evidence" on banned accounts.

Microsoft is banning Xbox Live accounts for what it describes as "Marketplace Theft".

Xbox 360 owners, many of whom have pleaded innocence, have reported receiving permanent bans from the online gaming service up to 12/31/9999.

In a thread on the Xbox.com forum titled "Suspended for Marketplace Theft?", a spokesperson for Microsoft explained that the action was in response to those who had "illegitimately" accessed downloadable content.

"During the course of a recent investigation, we have discovered users who illegitimately accessed Xbox Live Marketplace downloadable content," the spokesperson said.

"Our investigation reveals that this access was intentional and not accidental, constituting a blatant violation of the Terms of Use for the service. We will not divulge additional information regarding individual suspensions for these offences.

"Please know that we are being very careful regarding these suspensions, and have clear evidence regarding each account issued a permanent suspension from the service. We apologize for any frustration or confusion resulting from our inability to share individual details, and thank you all for your cooperation in this matter."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (58) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • RodHull #1 9 months ago

    It's only til the year 9999, chill out!

  • udoh #2 9 months ago

    How hard would it have been to reward the Honest people who reported the points problem, as the Support Team initially stated.

    Did they BAN the people who were told the points where theirs to keep (and the subsequently spent them)?

    Microsoft have lost the plot recently with XBOX Live, they even allow untested games to be sold when there is NO chance of a patch, and refuse to give a refund.(D&D Daggerdale).

  • thebuttonz #3 9 months ago

    FFS I'm gonna have to wait 8000 years before I can see if my Trials HD times have been beaten. Selfish Micro$oft.

  • lockload #4 9 months ago

    The bans are NOT for the points given in mistake

    I suspect redeem code generators
    Edited by lockload at 07/09/11 @ 10:11

  • tachometer #5 9 months ago

    This will have absolutely nothing to do with the free points fiasco. Mentioning it in the story is simply scarmongering.
    The bans will be related to a more serious breach.

  • WillakaBill #6 9 months ago

    Microsoft giveth and Microsoft taketh away

  • SteveHolt #7 9 months ago

    Who said the bans had anything to do with the XBL rewards glitch? WTF is this news?

  • Porcupine_I #8 9 months ago

    Where is my "XBL HACKED!!!" Headline??

  • kinky_mong #9 9 months ago

    This is appalling journalism to mention the reward scheme error in the article without actually clarifying that it has nothing to do with the bans, and will no doubt cause unnecessary stress to some people.

    Seriously can an editor thoroughly check Wesley's articles before they go live because he is by far the worst offender of this sort of shoddy writing. At least Purchase's errors are amusing!

    Edit: Well thankfully they've removed the mention of the reward points error. A little fact checking goes a long way people.
    Edited by kinky_mong at 07/09/11 @ 12:13

  • Ranger101 #10 9 months ago

    Wesley, this is a misleading news article.

  • BillyBrush #11 9 months ago

    1 + 1 = 274

    It must be really easy working for EG, people have been banned from XBL, a month or so back they had a mess up with their rewards programme. Put the two together and you have Wesley Yin Poole, super sleuth.

  • Whatascoop #12 9 months ago

    XBL HACKED! Users BANNED!

    Are YOU next?

  • Cadence #13 9 months ago

    Well said kinky_mong, Wesley seriously needs to get his articles checked by someone more senior before hitting publish.

  • neilka #14 9 months ago

    Thousands of people in England have been diagnosed with cancer in 2011, a year in which Wesley Yin Poole was also in the country.

    Just saying.

  • Tryhard #15 9 months ago

    Start a new account and pay for everything like the rest of us.Justice.

  • MasonMk #16 9 months ago

    What's this meant to do with? Fable II was free for some time last year, is that one of the offences (i didn't do it personally but i told a friend about it so if he gets banned im gonna feel bad, and him pissed).

    It's their fault anyway, if something is advertised as free, then what's the problem? It could be a Christmas gift for all we know. If it's about hacking into getting points or content then thats a different story...

  • arcam #17 9 months ago

    ^Damn I love that site :D

  • Shikasama #18 9 months ago

    Wesley, can you get a confirmation from Microsoft that this is in relation to the issue you have connected it to in the new post? You have provided no link other than 'some people have been banned' and 'something happened last month'.

    I wish there was some sort of + or - for the articles.

  • Bullet_Tunnel #19 9 months ago

    i'm looking for a new job, eg gizza go please... look MISLEADING HEADLINE/PUN GeoHotz visited his grandmother on her birthday, Sony had no comment.
    decent game with a few bugs..5, copy and paste franchise. 9. Remember Super Mario world? great wasnt it! White C#**s
    Edited by Bullet_Tunnel at 07/09/11 @ 11:27

  • jetsetwillie #20 9 months ago

    @djclownshoes

    cheers for that link. some corkers lol

  • DDevil #21 9 months ago

    Yeah, this story got me worried Xbox support had told me (and I quote) "The points are yours, enjoy!" So I seriously doubt this has anything to do with that cock up.

    Still, the short panic woke me up.

  • 8bitMofo #22 9 months ago

    As lockload mentioned, I'd guess bans are for the aptly named 'XBLA Theif' code generator users & general Mod/XBLM/MSP shenanigans.

    @MasonMk: I've lost count as to how many games I've had for free due to Microsoft errors and region freebies (WRC2010 yesterday, for example). I cant see people geting shit-canned for these...but then, this IS Microsoft were dealing with...
    Edited by 8bitMofo at 07/09/11 @ 11:55

  • MasonMk #23 9 months ago

    @djclownshoes, @8bitMofo

    Cheers guys, little panic through me their earlier :/ Didn't hear about the WRC one, missed out on that lol, but i don't ill take any chances in the future now i know what Microsoft are like

  • M1chl #24 9 months ago

    Is this something have to do with 10 000 MSP for 30 dolars, on some auctions on the internet?

  • grussbarbar #25 9 months ago

    I don't really like to criticize people, but I'm going to do so anyway and say I have to agree with several previous posters that Wesley Yin-Poole could improve his writing. I can't ignore that when I read a Eurogamer article that seems a bit iffy to me, and I check who's written it, most of the time it's Wesley...

    Less speculation and conjecture and more fact-checking would go a long way. Headlines could sometimes be less catchy and spectacular and more factual too. Maybe you could also forgo adding "- report" to headlines to try and give more weight to them. Besides that, maybe "write" less articles that are almost completely comprised of quotes.

    Again, Wesley, I don't want to bash you. Nobody is perfect; that's what makes us human. However I can't deny that I feel your writing is below the standard set by other editors. I'd love to see you step up your game and meet or exceed those standards.
    I hope you'll take this all as constructive criticism, as that's what it's meant to be. Everyone can improve, so I'd say: go for it!

  • artibeus #26 9 months ago

    I'm guessing this is down to the GoD/XBLA "profile sharing" (Like on PS3).

  • Gastrian #27 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 13:34:03 08-05-2012

  • BSMR #28 9 months ago

    Yeah let's all beat up on Wesley! I heard he laid the detonators on 9/11! Some say he chased Princess Diana on a motorbike! Opened an umbrella on the Kennedy motorcade! Gave Partridge a 2nd series!

    Death to this Wesley and his minor errors!

  • sadakos_fury #29 9 months ago

    @djclownshoes
    That site is legendary. I like to picture all those whining kids dressed in their parents over-sized hats and shoes as they impersonate them.
    Being a law-abiding type and a bit averse to MP gaming / racial slurs from preteens, I have no idea what is meant by "infection lobby". Can anyone explain it? A google just throws up piles of sites I'd rather not click on. Thanks!

  • spidermanalf #30 9 months ago

    12cm of people hate inaccurate stats.

  • ILoveThrashMetal #31 9 months ago

    The 'why has my son been banned from Xbox?' 'Because he was caught exposing himself while playing uno' has got to be the best ever banning

  • insinceredave #32 9 months ago

    Life should mean life!

  • CheesecakeBobby #33 9 months ago

    I will admit that I was banned for this. There was a glitch that allowed you to share xbla games - or so I thought, as that it how it had been presented to me. Turns out that while the users didn't have to do any hacking themselves, they had to use a profile which had already been hacked. Now, I only used it myself firstly out of interest, and secondly to play Torchlight as I had forked out for the PC version (yes, that does not justify it, I know). When it actually dawned on me that this might be a punishable offence I stopped but the damage was done.

    When I was given the ban, I decided to appeal, as I thought a permanent ban for playing one or two games I didn't legally own was a bit much. I then found there IS no way to appeal a ban. Eventually i found a forum where you could ask why you had been banned - I wrote a post explaning that I thought it was merely a glitch to allow gamesharing (something you can do on PSN legally I think?) and offered to pay for the games I had played. I also pointed out that I have been a member in good standing for over 7 years, I have never modifieed a console and have spent thousands and thouands of Microsoft points. In fact, I had spent about 2400 in that month alone, but because I played Torchlight a few months ago for free, I am viewed as a criminal who deserves banning. I even pointed out that when they gave me too many points during the rewards glitch, I didn't spend them as I recognised they were not mine to spend. Others who did spend those points were in effect rewarded by being allowed to keep the content! It feels like I used one glitch to get free content and was punished, but others who took advantage of a glitch did not even have to give the content back.

    Anyway, the post I made on that forum was deleted and I was not given an answer or the opportunity to appeal the permanent ban. The ban was annoying but understandable - being treated as a criminal with no recourse for appeal, by a company I have long thrown my money at, feels pretty crappy. I'm fairly adamant Microsoft won't be getting any more of my cash.

  • BSMR #34 9 months ago

    CheesecakeBobby, I feel for you to be honest, and admire your honesty for stepping up.

  • SvennoJ #35 9 months ago

    With these subscription models getting more and more ingrained in the video game industry I wonder how legal it is to simply deny you access to all the content you have legally purchased over the years. Do you also lose your current point balance and all prepaid xbox live fees, or do you get reimbursed for the remaining balance and legally owned content?

    At some point regulations need to be made for these situations. To put out an absurd analogy, suppose you get caught stealing a pen at your local bank and they decide to suspend your account and keep all your savings.
    Why don't these corporations have to seek damages in court like everyone else instead of playing judge, jury and executioner all in one.

    On the other side of the coin, the law needs to catch up too. A big sign violators will be prosecuted should work as a better deterrent then a long eula with you may get banned as a result. What's to stop these people from making a new silver account and repeat the same scam or use a new one.

  • tap #36 9 months ago

    The story here is surely that by 9999 each year has 31 months thus ensuring no one ever reaches pension age. Bloody Tories.

  • AaronTurner #37 9 months ago

    So was it just one game or was it "one or two games"?

    I sense some amount of cover-up.

  • Futaba #38 9 months ago

    @CheesecakeBobby

    You monster...

  • CheesecakeBobby #39 9 months ago

    Thanks BSMR.

    SvennoJ - everything is forfeit. Including over 1000 MS points on my account...

    Aaron Turner - Torchlight was the one game I played for any amount of time, but I think the same account also allowed me to download maybe 2 other games of which one was Sonic. I didn't play that for more than a few minutes. Anyway as I said, I offered to pay for all the games, but got no response. I don't see how it is in MS's best interests to ban me, unlike situations where people have clearly modded their consoles to play 'back-ups' or are cheating in online games, ruining the experience for others. All they have really done is dissuade me from spending more money on their products - which if you look at my gamertag page on xbox.com, you'll see I have done rather a lot of.

  • metalangel #40 9 months ago

    @Cheesecakebobby: They see it as in their best interests to get rid of people who are trying to illegitimately obtain paid content for free... that you're a long-standing customer is irrelevant to them, they'd rather not have customers who try to steal from them. They'd probably also say you only offered to pay for the games because you were caught.

    I'm not trying to preach schadenfreude here, and I do agree that they're inconsistent (regardles of the TOU bit I've pasted below) in their enforcement of these things. The points glitch and the £1/month glitch were both met with 'oh well, enjoy the stuff guys' while this has been an iron first slamming down.

    @SvennoJ: I've been reading over the Terms of Use again and it makes it very clear you don't get to keep your stuff, and that you agree that you don't by accepting the terms.

    "The Software license ends when your Service ends unless we notify you otherwise. You must then uninstall the Software, or we may disable it. You must not work around any technical limitations in the Software"

    "18.4.No Waiver. We enforce this contract, the Code of Conduct and other user content and conduct rules set forth in this contract, and exercise our rights and remedies at our sole discretion. If we fail to enforce such rules, rights, or remedies in some instances it is not a waiver of our right to do so in other instances."

  • CheesecakeBobby #41 9 months ago

    That's a fair point Metalangel, but it did feel a lot more like sharing games, as it works in the same way as if you give your friend a memory card and let them log in with their own account on your games. Plus a few weeks after I stopped using the glitch, they closed the loophole anyway - everybody affected by this issue has not been able to access those games for several months. I have since discovered that MS had not responded to queries from the people who found the glitch, asking if they would be banned for doing so. I don't feel guilty, I just feel stupid for not realising it could be seen as theft, and for putting my account, which I had invested a lot of money and time into, at risk! And I'm only angered by the way Microsoft completely ignored my appeal.

  • metalangel #42 9 months ago

    @Cheesecakebobby: I think they don't have an appeals process because a) all the extra staff they'd have to employ, b) the general nature of a significant number of users (see whywasibanned.com) who cannot be reasoned with as they are irrational to start with and c) to be seen applying an even policy that's harsh enough to deter people from trying it on in the first place.

    I really don't know what else I can say, apart from that from any gamer's perspective it's a shame to lose your account and all the effort it represents.

  • arcam #43 9 months ago

    There are people on Steam who've had a similar experience - entire games library gone for a single transgression.

    I can see why the ban happens - you broke the rules, you get kicked out - but a Steam account can easily be worth thousands of pounds, and you have to ask whether it's fair for Valve or MS to take away all your legitimately bought games at the drop of a hat, especially when there is no chance for appeal and no need for anyone to supply evidence or proof.

  • CyberClaw #44 9 months ago

    A few months ago, (a friend of mine) found on the internet a glitch that allowed (him) to download a Trial game (he used it with Metal Slug something, but some people said it worked with others), and with the aid of one of the CODs (can't recall which), (he)'d launch the trial game into full mode, while offline.
    Achievements were recorded and eventually uploaded to XBLive when you connected date-less. Didn't do it since, because (he) did it more out of curiosity than necessity (wasn't interested in Metal Slug to begin with, played the last 300 kazzillion to death in Arcades), and it'd quickly become an hassle (plus no XBLive features). I was genuinly afraid right now that they were going to ban that account for that. They didn't.

    But just to clarify, when Metal Slug XX was released there was a glitch that allowed you to use a COD game to launch some trial arcade games in full mode offline. No need of modding, hacking or whatever. All doable from your controller, just by doing a "routine" (something along the lines of launch arcade game, launch cod, go to some section in COD, open mini dashboard, launch arcade game again). I could hardly believe it myself until I saw it in action. o_O

  • kangarootoo #45 9 months ago

    @CheesecakeBobby

    I guess from MS's point of view, a lot of their banning process is about managing the damage that can result from exploits. You know that what you did was shifty, but you tried it anyway and got away with it for a short while. Now I'm not judging that, but from MS's point of view they have several ways of dealing with that.

    If they treat each case individually, besides the obvious overheads of that, they will in the end create a situation where some people can exploit loopholes and get away with it. One direct result from that course of events is that a greater number of people will exploit loopholes in the future, knowing that the penalities are variable.

    If they drop the hammer on everyone guilty of exploiting or cheating, they not only make less work for themselves but more importantly they send a clear message. The message being "if you do something that is clearly wrong, even for a short time, you will be dealt with harshly". The result being that whenever a player encounters a loophole in the future, the chances of them exploiting it is greatly reduced as they know the likely result.

  • CyberClaw #46 9 months ago

    @arcam the reason why I resisted digital purchases so many years, is exactly that. They don't sell you a game. They sell you a license, tied into a service, with strict laws. Break the law, loose the service and all the licenses. Legally speaking they usually cover their asses in their agreements that you must accept to subscribe, but it might not hold up in court.

    The bans only affect XBox Live though, you still keep your downloaded content in your hard drive. And nothing stops you from playing it. You loose your MS points though... Cheesecakebobby might help by clarifying that.

  • cyber_nicco #47 9 months ago

    "I heard he laid the detonators on 9/11!"

    What detonators?

  • grussbarbar #48 9 months ago

    @BSMR
    Fair enough. In the grand scheme of things, having perfect journalism on a gaming website might not be that important. ;-)
    But I love gaming and I love reading about gaming. And I just want Eurogamer to be the very best website it can be, because it's one of the only very few I still care to visit, after being turned away from other websites because of their shoddy journalism...

    And on that topic, it would be fair to Wesley if I added that I've seen and read things that are far and far worse than his efforts. Like a multiplatform website writing some single-platform reports in a fanboyish and very biased way because (quoting the lead editor's response to my query) "they were written for a specific target audience". And of course the ever returning problem of websites not bothering to check the original source of their news, just copying and adjusting and rewording each other's articles and then sometimes ending up with something very different from what the original source said....

    Anyway, I'll stop being off-topic now. =)

  • kentmonkey #49 9 months ago

    I do hope MS are being as careful regarding these suspensions as they suggest they are. As if they're being as careful as EG were with checking the facts, a lot of people could be being diddled out of legitimate accounts.

  • orangpelupa #50 9 months ago

    @cheesecake

    Xbox 360 bind downloaded things to profile and console, so all your content still usable if you made new profile in the same console right?

    or this ban you got is both console ban and profile ban?

    usually messing with Live - Only profile ban
    messing with console - only console ban

  • BSMR #51 9 months ago

    @cyber_nicco, why the ones that brought down the WTC of course. Don't tell my you believe a plane hit those buildings?

    It was Raelians I tell you!

  • silversun #52 9 months ago

    just putting it out her but saying someone went on xbox live and a piece of download content was priced at 0msp and was downloaded isnt that microsofts fault?
    it could be that a person downloads it and does not realise there was a price set on it , im not talking about a big dlc piece like gta 4 expansions , i mean like a costume or exp pack for something , isnt that not with intention , anyway is this what they ban people for or is it something different i bit confused about what this story is saying?
    Edited by silversun at 07/09/11 @ 20:31

  • CheesecakeBobby #53 9 months ago

    To clarify, I don't think anything is stopping me playing content tied to my 360 using a new account if I want to - I can't check though because coincidentally the day I got my ban (about 2 weeks ago) was the same day I left the country to study abroad, and left my 360 behind. I guess the sting would be worse if I was actually using the console right now...
    Edited by CheesecakeBobby at 07/09/11 @ 21:18

  • gm914 #54 9 months ago

    @djclownshoes
    That site had me in stitches until I realized all these morons will soon be filthing up PSN.
    Oh dear.

  • philreeduk #55 9 months ago

    @cheesecakebobby fair enough for you admitting it on here and owning up to what you did, however stealing is stealing what you did was wrong and ms are fully within their rights to ban you

  • sgtpepper23 #56 9 months ago

    If you were banned unfairly -

    [link url=http://www.change.org/petitions/microsoft-wrongly-banning-xbox-consoles-from-acessing-xbox-live
    ]http://www.change.org/petitions/microsof...[/link]

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Microsoft-...

  • kangarootoo #57 9 months ago

    "If you were banned unfairly - "

    make yourself feel better by signing an ineffective internet petition.

  • Machetazo #58 9 months ago

    what cooperation, and for what?