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Microsoft banning Halo: Reach pirates - Report

  • By Eddie Makuch, GameSpot
  • Posted Aug 24, 2010 12:19 pm PT

Publisher said to have permanently cut off Xbox Live access for gamers who have illegally downloaded prerelease version of Bungie's sci-fi shooter prequel.

Halo: Reach will be released into the wild in just 21 days, but some gamers downloaded illegitimate copies and are now reportedly paying a hefty price for their actions.

Earlier this month a community of modders got their hands on Bungie's final Halo game from Microsoft's virtual marketplace. And though it was reportedly not their intention to let the code loose to file-sharing sites, it ended up there.

Microsoft isn't capturing the flag, but rather the player.

Microsoft isn't capturing the flag, but rather the player.

Now, gamers playing unauthorized copies of Halo: Reach on Xbox Live-connected Xbox 360s are being tracked down and slammed with a permanent ban, according to a policy document obtained by MaxConsole.

"Notification of Permanent Suspension," reads Microsoft's guideline article. The document cites "prerelease title play" as the cause for the ban and says affected parties won't be able to connect to Xbox Live, per policy, ever again.

"During your suspension, you will not be able to log into Xbox Live. Your Xbox Live privileges will not be reinstated. Customer Support is not able to modify or provide any further details about your suspension," reads the document.

As of press time, Microsoft would not confirm for GameSpot whether the bans are limited to GamerTags or Xbox 360 systems. Microsoft did, however, provide GameSpot with the following statement concerning the issue.

"Microsoft’s commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the 25 million members of the Xbox Live community remains a top priority. All consumers should know that piracy is illegal, violates the Xbox Live terms of use, and will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live."

Addressing the situation via Twitter, Microsoft's director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live, Stephen Toulouse, issued the following statement.

"As with all unauthorized play on Xbox Live, anyone playing any unauthorized title runs the risk of account permaban and console. Remember, legit store bought copy runs no risk of ban. Key word: UNAUTHORIZED. We have ways of knowing."

The Halo series is no stranger to piracy, leaks, and broken street dates. Halo 2 was widely available on file-sharing sites prior to its release in 2004. Additionally, Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST were both sold at retail ahead of their street dates.

As far as punishment is concerned, when an Xbox Live user hacked his way into Halo 3's Epsilon test, he was banned for thousands of years.

696 Comments

  • emperiox

    Posted Jan 11, 2011 7:55 am GMT

    Good, Halo sucks. 2 Halos before HReach they said it was the end of one of the stupidest gaming franchises in the world. Then they made Halo tactics thing, then Halo Reach. Great job of milking it and blatantly lying to consumers.

  • SolidTy

    Posted Jan 7, 2011 6:23 pm GMT


    I had a buddy buy a copy of this early at a mom and pop shop since they didn't know Halo Reach was streetdated...and M$ banned him, lol. He had to call them and argue, and it was fixed, but boy, what a ruckus.

  • fiddels

    Posted Sep 12, 2010 7:19 am GMT

    Ok. Just got a legal copy of the game. (I Work in a rental shop). does this mean i can't play it till tuesday. or i will get my account baned?????? even thou it's a full retail copy and i spent my hard earned cash to buy it. please help me...

  • GunBladeHero

    Posted Sep 6, 2010 5:55 pm GMT

    Alan Wake was like that too, leaked at least 10 days before release! lol

  • XtremeDude09

    Posted Sep 6, 2010 1:39 pm GMT

    Its kind of sad to see all the good people recieving thumbs down for saying what ***** pirates are.

  • KTfreak4Jesus2

    Posted Sep 2, 2010 8:59 pm GMT

    @Banyek LOL

  • Banyek

    Posted Sep 2, 2010 11:50 am GMT

    Wow at the beginning of the game, they try to make the troops speak hungarian, and they suck at it. Reach is a hungarian planet!!! holy sh*t! we rula HALO!

  • Wheelman112 posted Sep 1, 2010 9:53 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Wheelman112

    Posted Sep 1, 2010 9:53 am GMT (hide)

    this is stupid its the companies fault it got leaked (initially) and these so called "modders" got there hands on it, i dont care what it is but if i had the option to get my hands on any game before its release i would grab it, not saying that i have but i would, im sure anyone would

  • kayoticdreamz

    Posted Aug 31, 2010 12:41 am GMT

    ah yes another set of bans to people who already have like 10 xboxs probably. and the other 40000 ways to get around said bans. yes microsoft you stop those hackers because we all know hackers can be stopped. ill say it again those that want to buy the game will those that dont wont. nothing except perhaps God will stop that and even then He seems content on letting them do it for now.

  • senorbusyman

    Posted Aug 30, 2010 3:26 pm GMT

    yeah!! good job. you show them not to mess with the companies

  • k1ll8_saurav

    Posted Aug 29, 2010 12:38 pm GMT

    It might be an Xbox/Gamertag ban now, but someday, someone will do something SSOOOOO bad, that Microsoft will ban your IP address. That's the day when hackers and modders will die. At least on Xbox, then Windows, the Playstation.

  • Rusty010 posted Aug 27, 2010 10:29 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Rusty010

    Posted Aug 27, 2010 10:29 pm GMT (hide)

    Pirates are stupid, think they own the world...dirty pirate hookers!

    Check out my profile blog, i got some good questions on there for Reach and COD vs Reach. Enjoy :-)

  • mbchfdh2

    Posted Aug 27, 2010 8:06 pm GMT

    Right. It's stealing, plain and simple. Lots of talented and motivated people work really hard for months and months to produce something, then some wanker nicks it and gives it away for free to other wankers. And the cycle begins again.

    I wonder how these people would feel about going to work then being told at the end of the month, "sorry, someone's stolen the current market value of whatever you do all day. No salary this month".

    Thieving scum.

  • Darryl_Green

    Posted Aug 27, 2010 7:41 pm GMT

    PS karma is gonna kick their asses

  • Darryl_Green

    Posted Aug 27, 2010 7:38 pm GMT

    Ah yes "hackers", a group of pretentious pricks who think they are god who go around stealing from hardworking developers like Bungie. But I have since dismissed this claim.

  • mbchfdh2

    Posted Aug 27, 2010 6:21 pm GMT

    Sure, that's a fair point. Thankfully, they were such complete cretins that they signed into Live, anyway. Which was great! Everybody on the anti-piracy team got to leave work early, that day.

    Beer o'clock...?!

  • dstv

    Posted Aug 27, 2010 6:16 pm GMT

    well even if they didnt go online with the game microsoft could easily check their achievements and played games to find out and eventually ban them .....unless they have 2 x boxes of course

  • mbchfdh2

    Posted Aug 27, 2010 6:08 pm GMT

    I agree with what's been said already. You need a Ph.D. in Dumbass to pirate a Halo game then sign into the Live servers. I mean, *really*. If there was a Darwin Award for Gamertags...

    ... I used to have pirated games when I was a kid, like, twenty years ago. For the Atari ST. But as I got older I came to recognise that it wasn't a sustainable way to behave. Certainly, when you're an adult and you're earning money, if you wanna play it, pay for it.

  • user_93475765

    Posted Aug 27, 2010 2:10 pm GMT

    Honestly, I'm glad they have the decency to just ban people rather than try to sue them into bankruptcy like, say, the RIAA. Sure, pirating a new game is bad and all, but corporations tend to go waaay overboard. "Haha, we caught you, now you're banned from our servers" is a punishment that actually fits the crime.

  • it009x9281

    Posted Aug 27, 2010 1:34 am GMT

    Pirates are a diease on gaming

  • fester420

    Posted Aug 27, 2010 12:14 am GMT

    If you are playing a game while connected to Live before it is released then you deserve what you get. That's the penalty for stupidity.

  • FallenOneX

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 10:19 pm GMT

    BTW, they don't seem to have a problem if you download Demos that were released elsewhere months before the US. Did anyone else here play the RE5 demo that was released in Japan before the US? It wouldn't let you load it if you were connected to live, but all you had to do was pop in the disc and hit play.

  • FallenOneX

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 10:09 pm GMT

    As much as I would love to bash "The Man", MS in this case, it's waaay better than them using your account info to track and sue you. On the other hand...........
    MS, how in the hell did they get the finished code off your virtual market in the first place? Probably the same way people have been hacking Windows for years. People pirating games had no intent on buying the game whatsoever. Buying 2 360's and modding one may seem expensive to some, but to them it is a well spent investment. The only people that got caught were the idiots that couldn't wait until the 14th to go online and play the game. And let's stop lying to ourselves while we're at it. I'm pretty sure most of the people here over the age of 25 remember just copying programs from a friends PC back in the day. Doesn't make it right, but we did it. The original Prince of Persia fit on one 3.5 floppy, and the only thing you needed to Play Leisure Suite Larry games was a copy of the original instruction book.

  • XanderZane

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 6:52 pm GMT

    noorct

    The problem with this idea of banning is that people with jtagged consoles can just go buy another key for $50. No muss no fuss, no need to get another console. ***********************************************************
    I think both their console and their gametags are perma-banned. They can buy a new consoles and create a new gametag and get back on XBox Live with no problems though, but their GameTag and console are toast. That's what they get.

  • XO422

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 4:38 pm GMT

    PUT THEM IN JAIL SERIOUSLY

  • 5TeN

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 4:27 pm GMT

    Good. They should be banned when pirating games.

  • scorpi13

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 4:20 pm GMT

    That's exactly the right thing to do. Anyone who is trying to play a game before its release needs punishment.

  • gbrading Site moderator

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 3:27 pm GMT

    Pirates always amaze me with how blaize they can be about things sometimes. Did they think that Microsoft just wouldn't notice? Boggles the mind.

  • enoslives7

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 3:00 pm GMT

    microsoft treats their customers like indentured slaves. If you buy a 360, prepare to be told what to do and when to do it.

  • Flint247

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 1:47 pm GMT

    On a positive note, I can't wait for Reach.

  • noorct

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 9:12 am GMT

    The problem with this idea of banning is that people with jtagged consoles can just go buy another key for $50. No muss no fuss, no need to get another console.

  • -HCMF-

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 5:14 am GMT

    I say ban 'em.

  • ukogmickey

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 2:12 am GMT

    @ dc337 You really think they care if they got the whole system bricked. Like ive said in previous comments. Think about it logically. Theyve done it once they will do it again. All the money they have saved on not having to buy games Im pretty sure 50 quid here and there for another console wont go a miss. Listen, Its like Imagine getting games free for howver long it is ? They get used to that and no way can they go back to paying 40-50 quid a pop. They just wouldnt do it. They would want another hacked console quicker than they can have their next meal.

  • bitpig posted Aug 26, 2010 1:52 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    bitpig

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 1:52 am GMT (hide)

    if they don't want people downloading the game then maybe they should push the release date forward. I've never downloaded a pirate copy of a game but when the options are either play it now for free or pay £40 to play it in 3 , the former is a little more tempting!

  • FF7AdventGuy

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 1:23 am GMT

    @Okassar

    150 bucks is also all it cost to have ANOTHER 360 that you can play online with. This way, you can still have alllll the other games, and pay for the ones u wanna play online.

    And i can vouch for most if not all pirates but outta 100 games they may pirate, theyll finish like 2, cuz with THAT many new games at their disposal, you dont have time to play JUST 1 games, then move on to the next. And to say that ppl pirate cuz they dont wanna pay to play it is usually not the truth. They pirate cuz they have interest in the game, but not enough that they would have gone out and bought. Theres too many terrible games being released lately that it gets frustrating spending $60+ on a game, only to beat it in 5 hours and it STILL sucked.

    And last of all, less than .1% of ppl actually pirate console games, which is nothing, companies just wanna make a statement. This will all pass just like how when music first started getting pirated. Look at music now? Do ppl still release new albums? Of course they do. Y? Because no matter what, ppl will pay for it, and they will want more and more, plain and simple.

    So consider me a pirate or not, idc, but if you like a game enough, support it, if not, dont, thats how i feel.

  • damaster101

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 12:39 am GMT

    I don't care whether someone pirates a game or not, your just not very bright for trying with a game as popular as Halo Reach.

  • kamizuka

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 12:34 am GMT

    i bet they are only 12 year old kids; who would be so exited to do something illegal or show up online with a game that is not out for the public just for showing off knowing they will get banned for it. it is the time where the brain cells havent matured and those who guys didnt even have.
    @monson21502 makes sense man its an inside job

  • amaan4ever

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 12:16 am GMT

    stupid pirating nerds

  • gohtingqi1997

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 12:13 am GMT

    serve those hackers and modders right . I mean , if you dun hav the money to buy a REAL copy , than dun , you can always get older games which are still fun and not do stupid stuff like that , i mean when you get caught and your whole console's xbox live gets banned, then you would have to waste antother $200 bucks to buy a new console, wouldnt you end up having to waste MORE MONEY?

  • gohtingqi1997

    Posted Aug 26, 2010 12:00 am GMT

    even if it doesnt work , i think alot of ppl willl still buy the real copy

  • monson21502 posted Aug 25, 2010 10:52 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    monson21502

    Posted Aug 25, 2010 10:52 pm GMT (hide)

    oh. bungie was the one who helped hack this game.

  • GREENSLIPPERS

    Posted Aug 25, 2010 9:59 pm GMT

    this won't work because pirates drive a boat so they will be able to sail elsewhere, this is why i choose sea travel over land travel.

  • supernaught360

    Posted Aug 25, 2010 8:20 pm GMT

    @tobbe4321 It requires tools to create art. Music, games, movies, anything you can think of.

    Since the artist has to pay for these manufactured tools, the artist also requires reimbursement to continue facilitating said art. And when you're willing to do it for free, my man, go ahead and do so. Let us know how it goes for you.

    You miss the point that art is work.

  • webby1

    Posted Aug 25, 2010 7:55 pm GMT

    The people who play a pirated game like this online are stupid.

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