In the wake of all the turbulent news surrounding digital gaming, it’s nice to see the little guy winning one against the corporate titans of the industry. In a recent post on social media, one Brazilian gamer revealed they’d won a lawsuit against the mighty Microsoft to recover their blocked XBOX account, and by association, their collection of digital games.
The entire situation is a telling tale of what might be our future, and it’s indicative of just how easily we can lose control of a digital game library we might have spent years assembling.
XBOX Account Lawsuit Paints a Dangerous Picture
On social media, a user by the name of Ordo_Liberal posted the outcome of their lawsuit against Microsoft, which was raised after their account was blocked, freezing them out of their collection of digital games.
In earlier posts, Ordo_Liberal explained that XBOX’s support function tried to claim the account had been hacked, refusing to open it back up again even though Ordo_Liberal had the necessary security layers engaged.
In a dire twist, it was claimed that XBOX’s support team suggested the user repurchase all their digital games.
This prompted Ordo_Liberal to file a lawsuit with an attorney in Brazil, leaning heavily on consumer law and seeking to have Microsoft reopen his account. On July 11, it was confirmed that they’d won their case, with the court ruling in their favor and ordering Microsoft to reopen the account and grant access to the library.
Additionally, the court ruled that Microsoft owed Ordo_Liberal $400 in damages.
In the post on Reddit, Ordo_Liberal posted a segment of his legal ruling:
Should the debtor fail to pay any certain sum that was the subject of the judgment within 15 (fifteen) days from the final and unappealable judgment of the sentence or ruling, the judgment amount shall be increased by a 10% (ten percent) fine, as provided for in Article 523 of the CPC, regardless of a new formal notice, under the terms of Precedent 97 of FONAJE and Precedent 13.9.1 of TJRJ Notice 23/2008.
(Thanks to Notebookcheck for the spot)
That effectively means that, if Microsoft doesn’t take action, the fine will increase.
Because of Brazil’s firm stance on consumer law, Ordo_Liberal incurred no legal costs and didn’t have to pay for the attorney, and he won his case to boot. It’s a big win for them, but it’s a damning indictment of how easily we could lose track of our accounts, and by association, our digital games, in the future.
Are you surprised by the outcome of this lawsuit? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You’ll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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