October 30, 2009 - Wake up this morning only to find your Xbox Live account has been banned? That's probably because you had a modded console and were playing illegal, pirated copies of games.
"We have taken action against a small percentage of consoles that have been modified to play pirated game discs," a Microsoft spokesperson told IGN. "In line with our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox LIVE community, we are suspending these modded consoles from Xbox LIVE."
Though Microsoft wouldn't confirm specifically when these bannings took place, a quick look over on its official forums suggest it's been going on over the course of this past week. Plenty of users have created threads on the technical feedback forum reporting of having their Xbox 360 console banned.
Microsoft also added this is a standing policy and isn't tied to any specific time-frame.
"All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox LIVE," the spokesperson added. "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."
