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Xbox Live Gamers Sue Microsoft For Faulty Service, Lawyer Speaks Out: Exclusive
//handles SEO title problemif (GetCookieUtil("cCommunityAccess")=="true"){document.getElementById('articleTitle').className="main-title wtbox";} else {document.getElementById('articleTitle').className="main-title";}Class-action lawsuit seeks more than $5 million in damages for December failures in the online gaming service.
By Stephen Totilo
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When three Texas gamers couldn't get online to play "Call of Duty 4" or"Halo 3" on their Xbox 360s last December, they decided to sue.
In a class-action lawsuit filed January 4, gamers Keith Kay,Orlando Perez and Shannon Smith claim that they and millions of otherXbox Live users suffered damages in excess of $5 million.
What kind of person sues over their online gaming service notworking? And why haven't Microsoft's announcements that they're fixingthe problem not been enough? In his first interview with the press, theplaintiffs' lawyer, Jason Gibson, explained the gamers' side of thingsto MTV News.
"These are not guys looking to get rich," Gibson said in atelephone interview from Houston Tuesday. "They are in their late 20sand 30s. They are college-educated. These are not young kids who justturned 18 and [want] to sue for the fun of it. This is, to them, a realissue."
Gibson said he was first contacted by Smith, who had beentrouble connecting with Xbox Live sometime in December. Smith wrote toMicrosoft trying to get an explanation of why the subscription service,which gives users the ability to download games and play competitivelyagainst friends, was not working. According to Gibson, Smith got noresponse.
As more and more gamers experienced these problems over theChristmas holiday, Microsoft's chief Xbox blogger, Larry "Major Nelson"Hryb, noted them in a December 30 post. "You may have noticed that theLive service has been having a few issues over the past few days," hewrote. "This includes things like signing in, matchmaking and accountrecovery. Not everyone has had problems, but I know some of you haveand I wanted to give you and update. While the service was nevercompletely offline, problems like this are not acceptable." He saidrepairs were underway.
On January 3, Hryb posted a letter from Xbox Live generalmanager Marc Whitten apologizing for the problems and explaining thatthe intermittent service was the result of a record-setting number ofnew signups to the Live service and the most concurrent users ever seenin one day. To help make amends, the company said it would offer allXbox Live subscribers a free downloadable game from its Xbox LiveArcade service.
But the Texas gamers' plans for a lawsuit were alreadyunderway, and they called in Gibson to help them sue for areimbursement of part of their $50 annual Live subscription.
Hryb then announced earlier this week that he could not offerfurther Xbox Live status updates due to the lawsuit. When reached forcomment by MTV News about the status of Xbox Live and any progressaddressing the issues, Microsoft spokesman David Dennis said that"given the pending litigation, we can't comment on these details."
At least some gamers' hopes lie with Gibson, a consumer-fraudattorney who claims he's never lost a trial and who has recently beenworking on a case against coin dealers who allegedly suckered elderlycollectors into bad deals (one of the alternate URLs for Gibson's lawfirm is coinfraud.com).
"When you have one person who is mad and they can't get aresponse, and they can't get their complaints addressed by a companylike Microsoft, the only way to get their attention is in numbers,"Gibson said. He said the company had to have known what was going tohappen with the Xbox Live overload. "If they had not anticipated thesales, then they would not have put out that many units of the Xbox tobegin with." Last week, Microsoft announced that Live had reached 10million subscribers and claimed record-setting revenue for consolessold in 2007, covering strong sales through the holiday season. Gibsonsaid that proves Microsoft's priorities were out of order.
"They take the money for the subscriptions, but they don't makesure that the service is going to be there," Gibson said. "They kind ofput the cart before the horse. To me, you make sure the service isgoing to be there. Make sure the product is going to be there. And thenfeel good about taking money for the service and the product."
Dennis said Microsoft could not comment on the lawsuit becausethe company has yet to be served. Gibson is in the process of doing so,after which Microsoft will have 20 days to respond to the suit.
Asked if any alleviation of the Xbox Live issues would nix thesuit, Gibson said the damage has already been done and that he wouldproceed. He said he has received more than 500 e-mails from gamers, 10percent of them mocking or questioning the lawsuit but the restexpressing solidarity. He said that more than 50 more plaintiffs havejoined Kay, Smith and Perez in the suit.
"What they would like to see is Microsoft fix the problem,"Gibson said. "They'd like to be reimbursed for the money they spentwhen they haven't received the service, and hopefully it will makeMicrosoft do the right thing in the future."
With Gibson proceeding and Xbox blogger Hryb gagged fromupdating gamers about Live's status via his site and his Twitter feed,gamers will have a harder time figuring out just how well Live isworking. When asked where gamers should go for status updates,Microsoft's Dennis said, "We will be communicating with our customersthrough our normal channels, such as Xbox.com and other means."
Gibson said his three main clients continue to have Livetroubles. As for his own experience, he's not a gamer. His twodaughters have an Xbox 360 and like to play "Guitar Hero III," but theydon't subscribe to the full $50 Xbox Live service.
And what of the gamers who dismiss the lawsuit? On the gamingblog Joystiq, gamer "NATO Duke" posted: "This kind of junk lawsuit iswhat makes us lawyers look bad. It also makes the country looksue-happy and too quick to file suit."
Gibson is undeterred. "They're not going to get a windfall oranything like that," he said. "Contrary to what other people might sayabout the lawyers involved, I'm on the right side of this deal. I tendto fight for the underdog."
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