The good news about Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox One just keeps on rolling in, as we are now hearing that anyone who has their Xbox Live accounted banned will lose all access (single-player and multiplayer) to any game associated with their account.
This latest bit of customer appreciation comes from Microsoft’s Xbox Support twitter account, in response to a follower who asked what would happen to his Xbox One games if his Xbox Live account was ever banned. Xbox Support responded to the question, saying “If your account is banned, you also forfeit the licenses to any games that have licenses tied to it as listed in the ToU.”
As a follow up question, the same Xbox Live customer asked if he would be able to trade in his Xbox One disc games if he was banned. Xbox Support responded by stating that they have no information to share on that, other than what was detailed about games licensing prior to E3.
The entire Twitter exchange can be read in full at the bottom of this post.
Considering everything we know about how Microsoft’s next-gen DRM works, it does not come as much of a surprise to find out that banned Xbox Live accounts would lose all access to both their digital and disc-based Xbox One games. With that said, it is still extremely disheartening to see a Microsoft representative nonchalantly confirm what many gamers feared would be the case.
So, to anyone who might knowingly or unknowingly break the Xbox Live terms of use (or anyone who gets falsely accused of breaking the ToU) on the Xbox One, buyer beware. Those ever-changing contracts could end up resulting in you owning a pile of worthless game discs and a very expensive HDMI Live TV passthrough/Blu-ray player.
@dohertymark If your account is banned, you also forfeit the licenses to any games that have licenses tied to it as listed in the ToU. ^AC
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport1) June 14, 2013
@dohertymark No info to share on that other than what is listed here for shared games: http://t.co/XIXbnRR1X5 ^AC
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport1) June 14, 2013
[Update] Major Nelson has addressed the issue of losing access to your Xbox One games if you are banned from Xbox Live, saying “Absolutely not. You will always have access to the games you purchased.”
Despite that assurance, Microsoft’s current Terms of Use does include a clause that seems to indicate Microsoft has the right to cancel all of your Software licenses if you are banned from the Xbox Live service. Section 1.10 reads in part:
“Any software or content (e.g., text, images, video, graphics, music, sound, or games) (for purposes of this section, we refer to all of these, as applicable, as “Software”) that Microsoft provides as part of the Services is licensed and not sold and is licensed according to the terms of this Agreement unless separate license terms are provided or referenced. We may automatically download Software upgrades to your Authorized Device to update, enhance, protect, or further develop the Services. We reserve all other rights not expressly granted in this Agreement. The Software license ends when your Services end unless we notify you otherwise. You must then uninstall the Software, or we may disable it. You must not work around any technical limitations in the Software.”