Hacked Xbox Player Defeats Microsoft In Court To Save Digital Game Library

It's been a tumultuous time for game preservationists as of late, with Sony potentially ditching physical media despite vocal outcry, and numerous stories of digital content being deleted after it's been bought and paid for. Today though, we have a victory to report: a Brazilian Reddit user named u/Ordo_Liberal successfully took Microsoft to court regarding the loss of his hacked account, and Microsoft has been ordered to both restore the account and pay u/Ordo_Liberal $400 USD for the trouble. There may be more to the story, though.

For one, this ruling only applies to Brazil, where citizens can easily file suits like this. It doesn't set a precedent anywhere else in the world, and as of this writing, u/Ordo_Liberal hasn't been granted access to the restored account or been paid the sum demanded by the court.

Not only does he suspect that Microsoft will likely appeal the decision, he's gone so far as to open a GoFundMe to "proactively build a legal defense fund." The GoFundMe has yet to receive significant support, however, likely because any funds raised will go toward u/Ordo_Liberal's sister's college fund, rather than being refunded, if Microsoft does not actually appeal and escalate the case.

From the perspective of game preservation and ownership, it is troubling to know that Microsoft can simply delete years worth of accumulated purchases if your account is somehow stolen.


In other ways, Microsoft has been good about game preservation. Current Xbox consoles have by far the most backward compatibility features, and rumors indicate that Microsoft may even allow disc-to-digital conversions in the future. 

Disc-to-digital is promising because the digital license is still tied to a disc, so if the physical disc is resold or used elsewhere, the license transfers. But in the face of the very real possibility that your account is somehow hijacked, even those features may not protect you from permanent loss of your games. Hopefully, stories like that of u/Ordo_Liberal help discourage a full-digital pivot, or at least get Microsoft and Sony to start improving consumer protections for digital games.