A top Xbox executive has told Sky News that he is "unapologetic" about his company's decision to bar as many as a million people from using Xbox Live.
Up to 1m Xboxes are blocked
Up to 1m Xboxes are blocked
Xbox Boss Defends Anti-Piracy Crackdown
8:50pm UK, Thursday November 12, 2009
Peter Hoskins and Hazel Tyldesley, Sky News Online
A top Xbox executive has told Sky News that he is "unapologetic" about his company's decision to bar as many as a million people from using Xbox Live.
Speaking on Jeff Randall Live, Xbox's chief executive for Europe Chris Lewis explained the thinking behind the policy.
"We are very committed to stamp out piracy. It's an issue not only for Xbox, it's an issue for the industry as a whole, it's an issue for Microsoft generally," he said.
"Clearly it's important for us to be able to stamp down on that to protect the 10 million people that are already on Xbox 360 in Europe for instance. So we take it very seriously."
n an interview with Sky's Anna Jones, Mr Lewis went on to defend the move.
"If it's clear someone is downloading pirated copies or have modified their Xbox in some way that will allow them to download games that they haven't purchased legitimately and yes we lock that account down and we're unapologetic about that," he said.
His comments came after parent company Microsoft blocked the consoles because their owners had modified the equipment to play games they had not paid for.
Those affected will have to buy new machines if they want to connect to Xbox Live, which allows them to compete with other gamers online.
Since the blocking began, so-called 'modded' consoles have flooded sites like eBay and Craigslist at knocked-down prices.
Buyers will still be able to play games on them offline, but Microsoft warns the warranty on them is invalid and they can not be connected to Xbox Live.
Users of the web service, which allows the 20 million gamers signed up to compete against each other via the web, appeared split over Microsoft's move.
"I applaud Microsoft for what they have done. Cheaters and exploiters are criminals in my book, and should be banned whenever discovered," wrote one Xbox user on a web forum.
However, another took the view: "Pirating is not ok, but neither is the invasion of privacy. If Microsoft can get in your home network and find out what you have on the xbox what is to stop them from finding out what else you have on your network?"
Other users expressed concerns that people who hadn't tried to modify their Xbox, but instead had a genuine fault, could be hit by the ban.
Microsoft would not say exactly how many customers were affected although reports suggested the number could be as high as one million.
Its crackdown came as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a video game destined for huge Xbox success, broke sales records as it hit shelves in the UK.
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