Xbox One Ships Early, Microsoft Bans It

Microsoft says a customer who received his Xbox One console early and was subsequently banned from Xbox Live for TOS violations will not face permanent exile.

In some ways, the Twitter user Moonlightswami is a very lucky fellow. Thanks to a screwup somewhere along the line at Target, he received his Xbox One console yesterday, a full two weeks before it’s supposed to be released. He posted pictures of the console, the controller, the power brick and the packaging with his receipt attached to prove the veracity of his claim, as well as details about the size of the initial update, install sizes of various games and such little tidbits as Call of Duty: Ghosts coming with only one disc and no separate installation disc.

What happened next will likely come as no great surprise: Microsoft banned the console. Fortunately for Moonlightswami, his account wasn’t banned, as he was still able to access it on his Xbox 360, but his Xbox One was left unable to go online. He seemed to take it well, urging his followers not to “cost yourselves a great experience” out of anger with Microsoft’s reaction to his early access, but he also made it clear that he wasn’t going to just roll over and accept punishment for something that clearly wasn’t his fault.

But now it appears that a happy, or at least relatively conflict-free, ending is in the offing. Microsoft’s Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson, took to Twitter to state that the ban will not be permanent, and then expanded on that statement slightly on NeoGAF. “I reached out to him and I’ll get this sorted out,” the Major wrote. “His console will not be permabanned that is for sure.”

But a banned console isn’t the only headache that @Moonlightswami has to deal with because of this. An unboxing video he posted on YouTube was taken down because of a copyright claim by Microsoft, which puts a “copyright strike” against his account. Three copyright strikes results in account suspension and removal of all posted videos, but even just one can lead to a loss of access to various YouTube features. Microsoft hasn’t said yet whether it will retract the claim or not.

Sources: Twitter, NeoGAF, via GameInformer