Lawsuit forces Microsoft to stay mum about Xbox Live status

It looks like we won't be seeing another barrage of Xbox Live status updates like we saw in the past few weeks anytime soon, at least as long as that little lawsuit is going on down in Texas. That unfortunate word comes from none other than Major Nelson, who said in his podcast that Microsoft can no longer update gamers on the situation due to "legal issues." Those constraints apparently even extend as far as the Major's Twitter page, leaving gamers in the dark in the event of yet another Xbox Live outage. In case you missed it, the lawsuit in Texas was filed after the outage in December by three disgruntled gamers, who claim that Microsoft knew activity would be at a peak during that time of year but "failed to provide adequate access and service to Xbox Live and its subscribers." No word on any progress in that suit just yet, but we're guessing that Microsoft and Xbox users alike are hoping it gets wrapped up as soon as possible.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy, thanks Jonathan]

Update: Microsoft may not be saying much about any future Xbox Live problems, but it is getting more specific about the free Xbox Live game its offering as a way of saying sorry. The game itself is Undertow, and it'll be available for download to Gold and Silver members starting next Wednesday at 2:00AM PST. Thankfully, according to Major Nelson, those that have already spent their hard earned points on the game can contact customer support who'll "take care of you." Just don't dally too long, as the free game will only be available though next Sunday.

[LethalPhoenix @ Jan 14th 2008 3:35PM]

It's common sense.

[LethalPhoenix @ Jan 14th 2008 3:37PM]

Ooops, stupid laptop. It's common sense that everything will go haywire during the end of December, but I guess everyon wants their share of the pie.

[Greg @ Jan 14th 2008 4:55PM]

So shouldn't common sense tell you to prepare for that? Especially if people pay for it.

[jared Rada @ Jan 14th 2008 3:39PM]

now im just mad at those 3 people who sued m$ in the first place... now we have no idea whats going on... thanks to them!

[5tifler @ Jan 14th 2008 6:36PM]

Yes, but your missing the point... I saw on server ocasions that the "Status" was "up and running" but howevwer i was still unable to get onto xbox live or play any games... So I'd rather them tell me nothing, than tell me lies...

[Chad @ Jan 16th 2008 12:44PM]

your just mad that you didn't sue first

[John @ Jan 14th 2008 3:42PM]

It seems to me that unless they want to guarantee never having any friends by claiming "emotional distress" due to lack of Xbox Live, all they'd be able to sue for is their money back.

[Will @ Jan 14th 2008 3:46PM]

Wow... what's next? Suing Nintendo for not having enough Wiis made to stock shelves for Christmas? Come on people...

[CharlieX @ Jan 14th 2008 3:49PM]

Such American assbaggery. Listen dumbasses, if you don't like what a company is doing, don't patronize them. If you think Ford makes shit autos, then buy a Toyota. Fucking video game addiction is the 3rd plague of armageddon. I swear to god. Waving your documents around and pansyassing "I'm going to sue you! I wanna play mah video gahmes!"

[TrentD @ Jan 14th 2008 4:53PM]

And what does being an American have to do with it?

Substitute any other nationality for "American" in your comment, and you'd be decried as a bigot. But since it's America, I guess it's okay.

And half the time, these comments are made by somebody from a nation whose collective butt we saved during WWII.

[CharlieX @ Jan 14th 2008 5:04PM]

Such Peruvian assbaggery. hmm.
Such Canadian assbaggery... hmmmmm....
Such Danish assbaggery..... ah ha
Such Tanzanian assbaggery... ohhh nice
Such French assbaggery... well there ya go

FYI, I'm American. And since this article is about AMERICAN'S suing, then there's the connection, Slick. If a bunch of disgruntled British kids were suing, then it'd be their assbaggery. Pay attention in class or don't comment.

[danny @ Jan 14th 2008 5:05PM]

While I don't believe it is strictly American, I do believe that it is utterly worthless. If you can't take a day or two of downtown in the busiest season of the year then A.) You don't understand how massively difficult it is to run a service like Live (from a technical standpoint) and B.) Your mother probably hates you (if I were to venture a guess).

[brad77 @ Jan 15th 2008 2:05AM]

I knew that you were American because you used z's instead of s's.

[Jason Cox @ Jan 14th 2008 3:56PM]

What a bunch of bloody morons... Can they not read the EULA / TOS?

[Dan Jensen @ Jan 14th 2008 3:58PM]

This is completely ridiculous. I love XBox Live just as much as the next guy, but c'mon people. Shit happens. Yes, we pay for the service, but life isn't about perfection... it's about making the best of what you have. Just demand your money back... don't muck up the legal system with this kind of garbage. Oh, so you weren't able to play video games within seconds of turning on your console... BFD! Grow a pair and use your time to ask out a woman, make love to your neglected spouse or spend some time with your kids and friends for Pete's sake.

Why the citizens of our jerry Springer nation feel they need to sue everything and everyone is beyond me, and it will eventually contribute to down the downfall f society. Mark my words. Assbaggery in the extreme.

[Victor @ Jan 14th 2008 4:48PM]

I honestly doubt that those people have spouses or any S.O. to speak of

[ChrisG @ Jan 14th 2008 4:58PM]

What do you mean seconds?! I wasn't able to play for around a week. Microsoft promised to compensate with a free arcade game, yet all live members have yet to see any sort of compensation. Even if your subscription almost expired they didn't offer to extend subscriptions due to down time, which costs subscribers money. So we have all right to complain. I do agree with you that lawsuits are a bit extreme.

[SENATOR @ Jan 14th 2008 7:33PM]

You won't get a free game now because of this lawsuit. So, don't get on Microsoft's case for not following through. It's the greed of the moron who is to blame here. And yes, seconds. The servers were slow and sporadic, but if you were patient, you would get a game... Still, would you sue your cellphone company if your signal dropped? Of course not, you'd call for a credit. A lawsuit would just raise the prices for everyone, and not do a damn bit of good.

[josearoldan @ Jan 14th 2008 3:58PM]

I hope MS wipes the floor around the servers with their heads!

[DonatoM3 @ Jan 14th 2008 4:04PM]

I agree. I wish more companies would spend the extra money now to have their lawyers rip these people apart rather than pay them of cuz it's cheaper than the legal fees. I gurantee you once a few companies take the initiative and countersue these kind of people to the stone age we will have less and less frivilous lawsuits.

[Jake @ Jan 14th 2008 4:03PM]

Demand for a product, and demand for network use are two very different things. As a paying Live customer, it is reasonable to assume Microsoft thought ahead that during the largest gift giving season of the year, their product would get in to hundreds of thousands more hands, and the demand for Live access would increase. They did indeed "fail to provide adequate access and service to Xbox Live and its subscribers."

[brad77 @ Jan 15th 2008 2:09AM]

Even so, those kids (I'm assuming they are kids) are being asshats by suing. It's in the TOS.

Sure it's not cool, and I was a little pissed too, but why the hell must we (as Americans) litigate first and ask questions later?

Vote with your pocketbook. Don't take them to court and ruin in for everyone.

You'd think this was common sense...

[Darkest Daze @ Jan 14th 2008 4:08PM]

Wait? So they couldn't provide a reliable service for multiple weeks and are getting sued over that. What does this have to do with service status updates?

I'm pretty sure if I can't log onto Live or recover my gamertag for 2-4 weeks, I can pretty safely assume MS can't keep the service up, without them telling me.

[Willie S @ Jan 14th 2008 4:11PM]

The three losers who sued should go outside and get a life. We don't need them on XBOX Live anyway. They screwed everything up. And you can believe that all the great inside peeks we got from Major will be edited even more than they already are.

[kastonie @ Jan 14th 2008 4:14PM]

Although this lawsuit is probably a little crazy, dont be mad at the people behind the lawsuit. Microsoft should just fix the problem with live and post "Everythings all good" on the status page and try to dump this lawsuit. I suspect there is more to this since this lawsuit hasn't been resolved yet, and the problems with xbl havent been resolved yet....

[Alan Strangis @ Jan 14th 2008 4:18PM]

Since it's a US lawsuit, why the hell can't Microsoft update everyone outside the US?

A Texan court has no jurisdiction over my relationship with Xbox Live in Canada.

[Crusty Magic @ Jan 14th 2008 4:20PM]

There is no way in hell that those guys are going to win in that case.

They're wasting their time.

[Alan Strangis @ Jan 14th 2008 4:21PM]

Hmmm... US rulings have no jurisdiction outside the US right?

Can't MS keep the rest of us informed? Surely there's some loop hole there to make up for the whiny Texans.

[Greg Legowski @ Jan 14th 2008 4:39PM]

The problem isn't necessarily that the lawsuit is causing a "gag order", it's that Microsoft's lawyers are afraid that anything said by figures such as Major Nelson would become "evidence" in the case. A statement made in Canada by a Microsoft employee could still be introduced into the case. At this point Microsoft is playing it cautious so that they can ream this lawsuit without too many attempts by the plaintiffs to complicate matters further. I hate the situation, but I understand the caution.

I personally thing the lawsuit itself is without grounds (nowhere is there a GUARANTEE of service), but it's up to the courts to make that decision.

[JD @ Jan 14th 2008 4:26PM]

Hmm, can we sue these 3 guys for being the cause of the stress I have to endure because I no longer know the status of xbox live? It is worse to not know what is going on with something then to know there is a problem and the company is working the issue.

[John @ Jan 14th 2008 4:30PM]

This doesn't really affect me, but it seems wrong to me that people shouldn't be able to complain about a lack of service. Seems like Microsoft should have to give everyone an extra month of service or whateer.

If Netflix had a problem where for a month they couldn't send out any DVDs there'd be a giant uproar about it, essentially Microsoft is doing the same thing, but people are just saying, "Computers break sometimes, you can't expect the world to be perfect".

[Dale @ Jan 14th 2008 4:37PM]

These people need to get over it. I pay £45 a month for my mobile phone contract. You don't see me suing Vodafone when I'm at festivals and can't use my phone as 10,000 other people are trying to aswell (have you ever tried making a call at a music festival or something like that?).

[iPriest @ Jan 14th 2008 4:53PM]

Yes and it works fine! If you have a carrier that cares about you it will put cellphone service at the festival. Well that's what they do in Belgium.

10.000 people not being able to send sms and create revenue is very stupid!

[Victor @ Jan 14th 2008 4:50PM]

Once again....these aren't the type of people to go to a music festival, let alone leave their houses....well...or leave their dark rooms.

[jeremy @ Jan 14th 2008 4:55PM]

what about a class action lawsuit against them for faulty xbox 360 consoles and the red ring of death. please???

[Shawn Nanto @ Jan 14th 2008 5:07PM]

So should we also start a class action law suit against COMCAST for their major Playoff Day broadcast fumble on FOX's channel? I wonder if COMCAST will have their bandwidth woes worked out by then?

[Shawn Nanto @ Jan 14th 2008 5:09PM]

The "by then" statement I made is referring to the Superbowl...

[DustoMan @ Jan 14th 2008 5:16PM]

Let's sue those Texans for suing Microsoft and preventing status updates for Xbox Live subscribers. I think it would be poetic.

[cmorgan @ Jan 14th 2008 5:39PM]

It is simple economics. If the business does not supply the goods/services that the consumer is paying for then the business is liable to any lawsuit thereafter. Finally the this generation is getting tired of being jerked around by the companies that have been abusing them for so long. It is complete nonsense that a company can legally say they are not liable for any downtime in the EULA/ToS. If you hire a worker to dig a hole and he does not show because he is unable to get to the job site do you still pay the man? No. Another good point was those who needed to renew their subscriptions also took a blow in this whole ordeal. If goods/services are not recieved as per agreement there should be a refund or other penalty. It is the same for any other part of the business world, why should it not stay true in the gaming community.

[Mike Mathews @ Jan 14th 2008 5:55PM]

HOLY SH!T... You are a complete moron!! the SIMPLE ECONOMICS of the whole situation is basically this... if you have a Sh!tty product, you won't sell any of that product. Stop making everyone else feel the pain of the lawsuits! DON'T BUY IT or JUST DON'T USE IT!!

It's that freakin simple people...

[Andy Engelkemier @ Jan 15th 2008 9:05AM]

I agree with mike. I think this guy put an extra "g" in his name there on accident.

That's not economics at all. Simple economics will tell you if you pay for a service and you end up not receiving it then you get your money back. That doesn't give you a right to sue.

The only reason you should be able to sue is if you have damages. I think any non-money-grubbing human being will tell you that emotional stress does not constitute fiscal damages. The fact that M$ was even willing to give us all something for the annoyance is just amazing. I'm guessing no one will get anything, however, because something like that helps admit fault so now they'll probably keep their free stuff to themselves.

I'd totally be in on a class action suit if someone wanted to start in on these three guys. Just for the principle. I say sue them for one dollar for every person they pissed off. Doesn't sound like much, and wouldn't really do any of us much good, but it'd help stop things like this happening in the future. Idiots just suing because they think they can make bank off someone else that has money. I don't think that would happen, but it sure would make them think twice about suing pointlessly again and pissing a bunch of people off.

[Tim Ficke @ Jan 14th 2008 6:51PM]

This is the biggest bunch of Bull S**t I have ever seen in my life! These three dumb a$$ kids are ridiculous. Go get a life. And if you really depend on playing a round or two of Halo or what have you on Xbox Live everyday you have some serious issues and probably go see a shrink. Why on Earth would you NOT want to be updated on Xbox Live status? WHY? Someone please fill me in.

[IgnorantTechie @ Jan 14th 2008 7:12PM]

Excellent PR move by Microsoft. While it is also legally smart, it will also turn the community against a "potentially valid" lawsuit.

[k @ Jan 14th 2008 8:25PM]

Yes, exactly. Still, though, either make Live work or make Live free (like, uh, 99% of PC gaming and EVERY OTHER CONSOLE).

[Jon Graft @ Jan 14th 2008 9:22PM]

Huh...funny thing is, I have a Playstation 3 and I don't pay a dime for Playstation Network (Playstation's version of SHITBOX Live) and yet it still runs perfectly fine, and they show the TRUE status of the network on their homepage. Hmm...something seems wrong here. :-P

[Greg Evans @ Jan 14th 2008 10:10PM]

Ok, this is stupid. I would like to sue the three idiots for being so @$#@ narrow minded that they couldn't find something else to do or play some game other than COD4. Funny thing was, I never had any problems, but then again, I spent time WITH MY FAMILY!

[slaphappy @ Jan 14th 2008 10:32PM]

BS, they are just using the lawsuits to hide there inability to fix the problem, BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tiffany @ Jan 15th 2008 1:27AM]

I agree with a lot of you guys but not some of the others. My problem with all of this crap started in October. Nowhere in the state of Alaska could an Xbox 360 be found to buy, because hey look at this...a red ring of death. How fun is that? So I looked online....nothing. All because they were making console packages. Jump ahead to Xmas....I've borrowed my cousin's box, got some games for xmas....have I been able to play them for the last 2 and half weeks??? Can I recover my gamer tag? What about the 13 month subscript that I got before my old console when down? I've spent well over 500 bucks in a console, subscript and games and haven't even got to test COD4 or Chrome Hounds. So if some of you whiners would understand all the money we gamers have put into this company you would be a bit buggered about it all as well. It's not that we don't want to spend time with our families, I myself play after my kids are in bed as does my husband, or that we don't have real lives, it's that we paid all this money and have nothing basically to show for it. Of course we are mad. We have a right to be in the end. If you saved up for all these things and got nothing out of it would you be mad? Or would you go " oh well, no big loss."? Not bloody likely.

As for this stupid lawsuit, I think those 3 are idiots. All they are doing is making things worse in the long run for the gamers. Fellow gamers...don't you just love having to stick up for yourselves over stupid comments like the ones above? Why are non gamers even commenting back if you guys think we are stupid for being mad over something like this?? Go back to your own lives and leave us alone.

[Frost @ Jan 15th 2008 2:57AM]

Ok so My Xbox Live, has not been the same since Christmas. I have not been able to play online at all, and yes I have a Gold Service. Downloads, forget about it, it times out or just locks up. I contacted Xbox, and yes they told me the same thing, the service is being overwhelmed right now and they told me just to try different times. So no access to New Released Movies every Tuesday, so I just PPV them on Direct TV. No Downloading Game Videos, so I just go to gametrailers.com and watch them. Xbox support told me just to not download any big games, to try and keep it small. They did tell me that I would be getting a free Xbox Live Game, but they didn't know when and what game.
So the BIG Question...Would there every had been a lawsuit if Xbox Live were Free?? I don't think so. I don't think you can sue over a service that is free. So I think as long as Xbox charges for its service, which I think they always will, there will always be people who get upset and get Lawsuit happy. Am I upset that I haven't been able to use the service they way I have been in the past...Yes I am upset that everything has slowed down, but would I want to do something that would make the service function even in a more broken way..NO. Let Microsoft fix the service so we can all get back to the service we enjoy. I recommend you all listen to the i-tunes podcast show #261 where e breaks it down for you under Major Nelsons Podcast.

[sp00ks102 @ Jan 15th 2008 10:54AM]

I can see both sides of the argument...I think it's a stupid idea to form a lawsuit over this type of thing, but I also can understand that people are upset at the lack of performance on the part of MS. They are a multi-billion dollar company and they screwed the pooch on this situation. I agree, they knew what their numbers were, and I think what's irritating most people is the fact that they had these numbers and failed to upgrade their hardware ahead of time, most likely to make as much possible profit as they could. I mean, all you hear about is how they are making record sales...and they didn't upgrade accordingly? Thats step one people.

It's irritating, yes...would I start a lawsuit all about it or send a letter to the better business bureau...no. I would like to see MS offer a formal apology, however, and offer to refund a month of service + a free XBLA game...while they don't have to do this by any means, there are loyal paying Live fans out there that deserve a break.