A trio of disgruntled gamers from Texas has filed a complaint against Microsoft over the service disruption that its Xbox Live service has been experiencing over the past few weeks. The three plaintiffs claim that "Microsoft knew the increase in subscriptions would increase game-play on its servers, yet failed to provide adequate access and service to Xbox Live and its subscribers." They are now seeking for class action status and more than $5 million in damages.
Although some speculated that the recent problems with Xbox Live were actually the result of the service being targeted by online hackers, Microsoft dismissed such claims saying the problems were the result of a "massive increase in usage" of the Xbox Live service during the Christmas period. The company has apologized for the outage and said it would allow Xbox live subscribers to download a free XBLA game.
Although many will see this as just another example of a lawsuit filed out of mere opportunism, the fact is people are paying for a service that has worked intermittently for the past 2 or 3 weeks, so this shouldn't come as a surprise in today's highly litigious environment.