Major Nelson: We ban modded 360s from Live for the "health of the video game business"

Major Nelson's issued a statement on the reason for banning Live accounts for modded 360s, saying the games trade survives on the fact that people buy "genuine products".

"The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive, both from manufacturers and the local companies that support them," said the exec.

"We will continue to employ and bolster anti-piracy security measures to counter piracy in the gaming industry and improve security in the Xbox Live community."

If you do have a modded machine and use it while connected to Live, you'll be immediately banned: in theory.

Nelson went on to explain that, aside from being an anti-piracy measure, banning in this way was also about keeping Live "safe".

"In our our continued effort to keep gameplay safe and secure for our community of more than 14 million members, Microsoft has taken action against a small percentage of Xbox 360 consoles that have been illegally modified in order to play pirated games," he said.

"You should know that modifying your Xbox 360 console is also a violation of the Xbox Live terms of use, will void your warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live."