It seems that for a while now, there were some Xbox 360 gamers who were well aware that Microsoft had been releasing some games for free in lesser known markets, like in Oman and Bosnia, titles which would have otherwise cost them money if they were to buy it from the Microsoft Xbox Live marketplace in the US. What they did was that they created accounts that were supposedly based in these regions and have been enjoying the free games thanks to this loophole. Naturally when Microsoft found out, they weren’t too pleased about it and many Xbox 360 gamers have since found their consoles banned because of it.According to a Microsoft spokesperson, “Microsoft’s commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 48 million Xbox Live members remains a top priority. We can confirm that attempting to exploit Xbox Live for financial gain – for instance, intentionally using false or deceptive information to create an account for the sole purpose of accessing content you would otherwise have to pay for – is fraudulent activity and a violation of the Xbox Live Terms of Use. However, we do not comment publicly on individual cases.”
This is similar to cases where gamers have been banned from games in the past for taking advantage of a bug or an exploit that allowed them an unfair edge over gamers who played normally. Some argue that this should have been Microsoft’s problem to fix back then, instead of waiting so long before dropping the ban hammer, but what do you guys think?