Gamer Banned 7,000 Years for Leaking Xbox Game Taunts Developers
▼ Summary
– Playground Games banned players who leaked Forza Horizon 6 footage, issuing a 7,973-year ban across all Forza games.
– The prominent leaker, DVS Squad, uploaded more footage after the ban and claimed he circumvented it easily due to modding experience.
– DVS Squad stated he knew the risk of leaking and didn’t care, viewing the ban as free attention for his channel.
– He defended the game’s graphics, saying his footage looked choppy because he wasn’t using the highest settings.
– DVS Squad recommended Forza Horizon 6 to franchise fans, rating it in the top three, despite few new ideas.
On Monday, Playground Games, the developer behind Forza Horizon 6, took swift action against players who leaked footage of the upcoming racing title a full week before its official launch. The studio issued bans to multiple accounts, but the punishment raised eyebrows not for its existence, but for its extreme length. The leakers received a 7,973-year ban affecting all Forza games. Remarkably, on that same day, the most visible leaker, known as DVS Squad, uploaded fresh clips showing him driving through the game he was supposedly locked out of.
In a seven-minute video, DVS Squad explained the situation in detail. He insisted that no cheating software was used to access the game early. The bulk of the video, however, focused on how little the ban bothers him.
“I knew the risk, I simply didn’t care,” he stated. DVS Squad, an experienced Forza modder, claimed he could easily bypass the ban. He argued that even a hardware ban from Playground Games wouldn’t stop him, as he knows how to circumvent it. He admitted to having been banned before without it affecting his ability to play. If this incident is different, he said, it’s only because he didn’t bother to hide his gamertag.
“I’m kind of glad because it just gives my channel more attention,” the modder added.
While the 7,973-year ban did cost him the account used in the leaked footage, DVS Squad noted that it only erased his progress, which he can quickly regain on a new account. “I’m free to play online as much as I want, and there’s nothing they can do to really stop it,” he said.
Interestingly, the video wasn’t entirely critical of Playground Games. DVS Squad defended Forza Horizon 6 against critics who thought the graphics in his leaked footage looked poor. He clarified that he wasn’t running the game on its highest settings.
“It may look choppy, but trust me, when the game comes out or if you played the game, you already know the game is absolutely stunning,” he said.
Toward the end, the video took on a positive tone, almost resembling a review. DVS Squad expressed satisfaction with the game’s overall state, even if he felt Playground Games didn’t introduce many fresh concepts.
“I would recommend the game 100% if you’re a fan of the franchise, and you like racing games and playing Forza, this is probably in the top three,” he said, before revealing plans to upload more trolling content.
Playground Games has not yet responded to a request for comment from Polygon. This story will be updated if the company replies.
(Source: Polygon)
