Last month, news came out that Microsoft was secretly working on an Xbox One remake of the original Gears Of War. Now, we know that those news are true and that the info was leaked by game testers working for VMC Games which provides game testing services for Microsoft and other studios.
Sadly, this good guy game tester has been tracked down and punished by Microsoft.
"The nature of the leak having had occurred through Xbox One, actually also went against the Microsoft EULA, which is agreed upon when creating an Xbox LIVE account, or any other type of Microsoft account," said VMC games in an email to Kotaku. "This being said, as per that agreement with the testers in fault, Microsoft also permanently disabled their Xbox LIVE accounts (as well as other suspected accounts present on their Xbox One kits) and temporarily blocked all of their Xbox One privileges – meaning that for a period of time which Microsoft decides on depending on the severity of the offense, their Xbox One is entirely unusable."
This revelation that Microsoft has the power to remotely brick any Xbox One console didn't sit well with gamers. Fortunately, it wasn't long before Microsoft issued an official statement clarifying that the console in question was only banned from Xbox LIVE and can still be used offline.
"To be clear, if a console is suspended from Xbox Live for a violation of the Terms of Use, it can still be used offline," affirmed Microsoft. "Microsoft enforcement action does not result in a console becoming unusable. Suspensions for both consoles and accounts are determined by looking at a number of factors. To avoid enforcement action including suspension from the service, users should follow the Xbox Live Terms of Use and Code of Conduct."
A paranoid person might point out that Microsoft didn't deny having the ability to brick Xbox One consoles in general, but we shouldn't be that paranoid… Or should we?
