Microsoft has punished the testers that leaked a video of the remastered version of Gears of War for the Xbox One, though the company has denied allegations over what it really did.
The testers, which were employed by VMC Consulting, allegedly leaked the video of the still-unannounced video game, which was a violation of the non-disclosure agreement that was signed between the companies and of the End User License Agreement of Xbox Live.
An email by VMC Consulting said that the Xbox Live accounts of the Gears of War leakers were banned permanently, and the consoles that they used were "temporarily blocked," meaning that the Xbox One units would be "unusable" until Microsoft lifts the block.
Kotaku reported that Microsoft "bricked" the consoles of the offending individuals, which raised concerns among owners of the gaming consoles that Microsoft has the power to completely disable any Xbox One unit that it would want to. It should be noted that the testers were using standard retail units of the Xbox One, and not specific "debug" units that Microsoft keeps under tight supervision, which made users worried that Microsoft has a so-called kill switch for Xbox One units.
However, Microsoft responded by clarifying that when it disabled the consoles of the Gears of War leakers, the units were only suspended from being played through the online Xbox Live network.
"Microsoft enforcement action does not result in a console becoming unusable," said a spokesperson for Microsoft to GameSpot, which means that the consoles can still be used to play offline.
The spokesperson added that the suspensions that Microsoft could hand out might take a look at several factors, advising users that, to prevent their consoles and accounts from being suspended from Xbox Live, they should always follow the Terms of Use and the Code of Conduct for Xbox Live.
Being banned from Xbox Live takes away a significant portion of the entire Xbox One experience, as gamers will no longer be able to play games online, purchase games through the Xbox Live store, and download updates for retail games, among other unique functions. Permanently banning the leakers from Xbox Live shows just how serious Microsoft looks at the Terms of Use and non-disclosure agreement signed for the testing of the new Gears of War title.
Microsoft was able to clarify what VMC Consulting meant in its e-mail and, until there has been a report of an Xbox One console being "bricked" by Microsoft remotely, then there should be no concern that Microsoft has the power to do such a thing.
