Yeah, I worked for VMC as a professional QA tester and it was made crystal clear that they do not take leaks easily, and they will punish those responsible severely so that their integrity is maintained. They deal with a lot of different publishers and companies; leaks are not tossed aside as though they were nothing.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Kotaku - Microsoft Punishes Gears Leakers By Making Their Xbox Ones Unusable
- Thread starter Fracas
- Start date
Yeah, I worked for VMC as a professional QA tester and it was made crystal clear that they do not take leaks easily, and they will punish those responsible severely so that their integrity is maintained. They deal with a lot of different publishers and companies; leaks are not tossed aside as though they were nothing.
Because the headline here isn't "dumbass testers couldn't keep their mouths shut, got fired", it's "Microsoft can remotely disable your Xbox One"
Which plays right into the whole always on DRM narrative that's been weighing them down for two years.
GitarooMan
Member
This seems completely reasonable.
Because they are clearly in the wrong.
I think the idea is to scare people about MS's "kill switch" (I'm sure Sony could do this too if they wanted, could they not?).
While I'm not a fan of the idea, and it's reflective of the DRM problem they've had since announcing the One, these users broke a serious agreement, which is probably one of the situations outside of piracy or something in which Microsoft will use it. People afraid that they're going to start bricking consoles just for kicks are worrying too much about nothing.
While I think the punishment in and of itself fits the crime; I'm surprised Microsoft would not have any trepidation about showing the public they have the ability to do this. It's going to stir some 2013-esque shit up for them.
Not surprised at all that they're capable of doing this though.
Not surprised at all that they're capable of doing this though.
Xaero Gravity
NEXT LEVEL lame™
It's home consoles, not devkits in this case.
I suppose it's about setting an example. If they can do it and get away with it, others will too in the future. But this time this hypothetical unannounced game may not be a bad kept secret.
Shining Sunshine
Banned
An employee of VMC did the Battlefield 3 leak a while back.
The employee went to jail for it, I heard.
The employee went to jail for it, I heard.
SliceSabre
Banned
If you sign a NDA and they act against you for breaking it they have no one to blame but themselves. Hell they should consider themselves lucky that's all Microsoft did.
akidnamededdy
Banned
I think these guys getting their systems disabled is the very least of their problems right now.
You give Sony way too much credit as far as their ability to do things over a network.
InsaneTiger
Member
Gotta love the digital age.
Pretty much this. Usually NDAs are also tied to lawsuits and severe fines that can go into the 3 or 4 zeros. So they should be glad it's just a console 'brick'
Because we would like to be able to beta test these games maybe...
That's honestly my whole deal. The whole kill switch is scary and not just because it's MS. Sony likely has a Similar system in place.
No, the user is tied the NDA, which is also tied to MS and the EULA of the console, which the user already agreed to using with the console. Account access is usually apart of those agreements and breaking terms will lead to losing those granted privileges. Losing access to Live is next to nothing compared to legal action, which can also be a possibility dependant on what MS want to do and what terms are in those signed agreements
It's alright, but you will be signing an NDA and can suffer the same consequences if you break the terms - such as posting about and detail any information about the game other than with VMC
This has nothing to do with "the digital age". There are consequences to breaking non-disclosure agreements (regardless of the form) that you sign and are outlined in that agreement as well as others that are tied to it through it's terms
StalkerUKCG
Banned
They signed an NDA and agreed to this. They broke the NDA and Microsoft could fucking destroy them for it. Instead they loose access to a console for a period of time.
Breaking NDA can be massively damaging to companies. It can in extreme circumstances negatively effect the public opinion of a game wrongly and cost the producers sales.
That is quite possibly the least of their worries. VMC will probably be going after them for breach of contract.
Scarier than being brought up on legal charges? Being sued for damages, and have your record tainted?
Well at the very least we know they can pretty routinely crash their own network without really doing anything and knock everyone offline, so that's something.
They probably should have.
……forgetit
Member
Nope, but pirating is the least of their worries sense they just broke a massive NDA, they're lucky if they don't get sued for everything they're worth.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
Their console is only TEMPORARILY banned according to another gaffer who got the actual email from VMC.
Accounts are banned permanently, systems are blocked temporarily. Not that bad for breaking an NDA.
Other thread.
Accounts are banned permanently, systems are blocked temporarily. Not that bad for breaking an NDA.
Other thread.
- 
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
What do you mean what? Its an offense that could get them sued
Sounds fair to me. You don't leak an unannounced game after signing an NDA and then not expect any consequences.
If their Xbox being disabled is the extent of their punishment, they got off extremely easy. The leaker(s) could very easily be sued for potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars, both by the testing company and obviously Microsoft.
If their Xbox being disabled is the extent of their punishment, they got off extremely easy. The leaker(s) could very easily be sued for potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars, both by the testing company and obviously Microsoft.
Seriously? NDAs are and should always be taken seriously. There could have been worse repercussions as in legal action. the people who leaked this got lucky that their systems were bricked and nothing worse happened.
Hip Hop
Member
Because not everything has to be "for the gamers" shit.
What should I be doing? Rooting for them?
They fucked up, they deserved it, simple as that.
Hot Coldman
Banned
Imagine how ridiculously powerful you've allowed the marketing arm of your company to become that they can say "You ruined our plans, so we're breaking your shit.".
IT'S A REMASTER OF A 9 YEAR OLD GAME. That everyone already knew was coming anyway. Fucking idiots. Get your head out of your arse MS, for once.
IT'S A REMASTER OF A 9 YEAR OLD GAME. That everyone already knew was coming anyway. Fucking idiots. Get your head out of your arse MS, for once.
The Inventor
Member
Three. fcking. Letters. NDA.
You don't mess with it.
And there you have it again. Nothing can be said about what you did or didn't.
(I replaced the game with a couple of "x")
You don't mess with it.
And there you have it again. Nothing can be said about what you did or didn't.
(I replaced the game with a couple of "x")
NDAs aren't from "marketing."
They work for a company that has a contract with MS for testing. So in a sense yes they do/did work for MS. Just like all other contracted employees do.
You probably signed up when there was a thread about it here on gaf a year ago and just don't remember it.
gunslikewhoa
Member
They're not devkits. Testing for VMC is done on your own hardware
Gucci Messiah
Banned
Just because I'm a consumer with no affiliation to MS doesn't mean that I think it's cool to break legally binding contracts related to my preferred hobby.
As much as I love schadenfreude and how it makes me roll around in pure delight - being able to remotely brick someone's system should be illegal as fuck. "They broke an NDA" is absolutely no excuse to justify a company having that kind of ability. Breaking an NDA should have real consequences, but that kind of action should never, ever be built into a piece of hardware.
Another ding.
Quite a few leaks have come from VMC
But then I don't know how many companies there are that have the setup to do what VMC do with the public NDA'd testers.
Both Halo and Driveclub had network issues, things that probably stemmed from not having a large scale external network test, which is usually what VMC are actually testing.
The people that leaked can only blame themselves for it, if you break a contract you have to deal with the consequences
Yep. These people messed up big time and had this coming, but just thinking about how easy it is for these companies to pull the plug on an account or render your console unusable is pretty intimidating. Welcome to the digital future, I suppose.
Seriously.
Similar threads
- Poll