Xbox Live trio to sue Microsoft

Anger over Christmas service problems

18 January 2008 13:01 GMT / By Katie Scott

Apparently a free Arcade game is not enough of an apology for some over the outages on the Xbox Live service over Christmas.

Three Texans are to sue Microsoft for the problems and their lawyer is already warning the computing giant that he has never lost a trial and is "on the right side of this deal".

Jason Gibson told an interviewer at MTV on Tuesday that his clients - Keith Kay, Orlando Perez and Shannon Smith have a strong case.

The trio have, according to online reports, now been joined by 50 other plaintiffs in the suit.

He also went on to dismiss accusations that this is just a get rich quick ploy.

"These are not guys looking to get rich", he insisted. "They are in their late-20s and 30s. They are college-educated. These are not young kids who just turned 18 and [want] to sue for the fun of it. This is, to them, a real issue."

They are after $5 million as compensation for the problems over the festive period.

As we reported, some subscribers claim to have missed up to a week of their service as they were unable to sign into the online games while others experienced issues accessing their online accounts.

The trio are claiming Microsoft misrepresented itself and breached its contract through negligence.

They claim, in particular, that Microsoft knew that a massive boast in subscribers could affect the service for existing Xbox Live users.

Gibson explained: "[Microsoft] takes the money for the subscriptions, but it doesn't make sure that the service is going to be there. It kind of puts the cart before the horse. To me, you make sure the service is going to be there. Make sure the product is going to be there. And then feel good about taking money for the service and the product".

He added: "When you have one person who is mad and they can't get a response, and they can't get their complaints addressed by a company like Microsoft, the only way to get its attention is in numbers".

Gibson is soon to serve Microsoft with the lawsuit, after which the computing giant will have 20 days to respond.

Gibson concluded: "My clients are not going to get a windfall or anything like that".

"Contrary to what other people might say about the lawyers involved, I'm on the right side of this deal. I tend to fight for the underdog."

Microsoft will not comment on the case until it is served.

Full tags

Gaming, Online, Xbox 360, Biz, Microsoft, Lawsuits