Banhammer Put to Use on CoD4 Beta Exploiters

Days after an exploit was found to let users without a ticket piggyback on a friend’s account to download the Call of Duty 4 Beta to their own machine, Microsoft has reportedly laid down the banhammer, giving 23,000 gamers a temporary 24 hour suspension from Xbox Live.

Xbox-Scene received the following message from a Microsoft source:

There was an exploit that enabled valid beta participants to sign in with their accounts on a different machine, use their beta token and download the beta. The beta was then fully functional for any LIVE profile on that 2nd machine (even after the beta participant’s account was removed). Approximately 23k consoles were used to take advantage of this exploit to illegitimately access the COD4 beta...The current POR is to issue a 24-hour console lockout that will prevent these 23k users from using their consoles to sign in to LIVE.

It seems like a little too extreme of an action to take, just for gamers to be that enthusiastic for your game, but rules are rules. If you signed up, I believe beta tickets are still in the process of being handed out (I received mine a few days ago) so patience seems to be the most rewarding option.

(Thanks, Joystiq.)

Update

Looks like Major Nelson is refuting the claims that a large amount of Xbox users were banned for exploiting the COD4 beta trick. To bad, just when I thought MS was doing something productive on XBL.

I’ve seen a few stories circulating today about a huge Xbox LIVE banning related to the COD4 beta. I went and chatted with the ban hammer folks, and confirmed what I suspected: We did NOT ban tens of thousands of folks yesterday. As many of you know we do sometimes have to take action against accounts and consoles that violate the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use. Although we’re really impressed with the excitement around the Call of Duty 4 multiplayer beta, I do want to take this moment to point out that that the steps I’ve been reading about that some people have been trying to take to get in on the beta without their own token could very well violate our Terms of Use.

Remember that sharing accounts isn’t just a violation of the terms, which could get you banned, it’s actually not a good thing to do in general. People can get details about you or content from you, or try to take action against you when you do something like that. It is your responsibility to keep your account information safe. Regarding the COD4 beta, the best advice I can give in a situation like this is try and be patient. We know you all want to play, and we think that’s great, but if you break the rules, you can be banned.

I hope this clears things up. - MajorNelson.com