Like many a young person, MTW (Justin May) was a serious gamer—a serious Xbox 360 gamer, to be precise. Unlike most gamers, though, MTW wanted more from his games and his console. He sought a kind of super-console, one that allowed him to manipulate the operating system, run software emulators, and unlock the ability to play pirated games on the powerful (and affordable) machine.
On his quest for an XDK—the powerful Xbox 360 developer kit—MTW befriended an elite group of young international hackers who came to be known as Xbox Underground. Together, these teens-turned-twenty-somethings would go on to hack gaming’s biggest publishers and leak unreleased products for fun and profit. Before Xbox Underground became the subject of hacker and gamer lore, MTW’s relentless passion for pre-release play led him on a fateful single-player adventure to troll Microsoft security AFK (away from keyboard).
MTW went to the PAX EAST gaming expo in March 2010 with the express purpose of confronting Microsoft’s beloved Policy and Enforcement officer, Stephen “Stepto” Toulouse, for banning his Xbox Live Gamertag. “Stepto,” fresh off a 40-minute panel about platform moderation, was met by MTW, first in line for the Q&A. MTW begged Stepto to unban his account, prompting awkward but encouraging laughter from the audience. “What did you do?” asked Stepto. “Played Forza 3 early,” MTW replied proudly. Stepto seemed surprised but stayed on brand as a Microsoft rep and calmly shared the company policy. In this audio clip of the extended exchange, MTW tries to antagonize Stepto and the other panelists, but Stepto steps in with the last word: “Illegitimate pre-release play results in a perma-ban, sorry.” Before moving on with the Q&A, Stepto, audibly a bit shaken, admits: “I’ve never been confronted with someone we did that to.”
MTW’s IRL audacity may have been annoying to the Microsoft security officer, but in hindsight this otherwise minor episode sure sounds like foreshadowing for more dramatic things to come: from 2011 to 2013, the Xbox Underground infiltrated the networks of Microsoft and other major publishers, sold game exploits, leaked pre-release projects, and even stole software from the US military. Following his encounter with Stepto, MTW was caught hacking an XDK owned by Atomic Games, a developer who worked closely with the US military. Despite his insistence that it wasn’t a big deal and that he was just a fan who wanted to play it with his friends, MTW was charged with larceny and trafficking stolen trade secrets. On probation, he lost access to his consoles and the online community where his exploits held the most value. It’s suspected that he ratted out his friends, five of whom were convicted. Today, MTW is serving prison time for defrauding several major tech companies.
It’s important to underline that when MTW and the Xbox Underground started infiltrating the networks of major developers back in 2010, they weren’t motivated by profit, but high-risk play. They were just really hardcore gamers. They didn’t engage in any kind of digital activism, unlike the PlayStation gamers who joined forces with Anonymous around this same time. After media giant Sony sued the man who hacked the PlayStation 3, gamers and Anons united in a protest for the right to modify. All kinds of geeks are dedicated to preserving beloved games and consoles, even if their efforts land them on the wrong side of copyright law. Some publishers, like Valve, embrace these generative fandoms, releasing source code for the public to modify. Others, like Nintendo, are relentless in their efforts to stamp out software and hardware piracy by any means necessary. Games are serious business, after all.
Today, devastating ransomware attacks on game developers are common. Victims who fail to meet attackers’ demands risk having their unfinished work and internal documents released in retaliation. Some hackers leak content simply to satisfy fan curiosity or spite publishers.
As these kinds of leaks are now so commonplace, the story of MTW and the Xbox Underground is beginning to fade into legend. Podcaster Jack Rhysider and YouTuber Vince Vintage have both provided stirring renditions of this twisted story, and deep insight into the individual psychologies and motivations of the MTW crew. Their brief reign illustrates how some gamers risk it all for early access, sacrificing their future for the freedom to play on their own terms.
