Microsoft Locks User Out of 25-Year-Old Microsoft Account and OneDrive Data

In the midst of all the discourse surrounding an all-digital future, a viral social media post has shone a light on the cracks in what it means when a company controls a user's access to content they "own".

Following his account being compromised, a user by the name of Joshua Khane posted on X where he claims Microsoft's solution was to completely wipe the user's 25-year-old Microsoft account.

In the post, Joshua states that he has lost "thousands of euros" spent on games purchased through the Xbox storefront, in addition to all his son's baby photos.

A screenshot of Microsoft Support's response, attached to the post, tells Joshua that they identified his account was compromised, and that they are unable to "modify or restore" the account's security settings. As such the company's only recourse is to disable the account, effectively revoking access to any Xbox or OneDrive content. The response claims this is to maintain "encryption and privacy safeguards".

The company then tells Joshua to "create a new account" as a next step.

Microsoft has not yet publicly commented on the situation, which has since gone viral on Twitter. It remains to be seen whether the company will take action to reinstate the user's account.

The Boardroom Read: Digital is More Fragile than a Disc

This is not a good look for the company whose gaming division has just gone through a major "reset", resulting in thousands of layoffs over the next fiscal year.

But beyond all that, it really shines a light on what an all-digital future looks like. Just a few weeks after Sony announced that they will no longer press physical PlayStation discs from 2028, the jury is still out on what all of this means for digital ownership.

Last week on the Level Up Times Show I discussed the benefits of physical: namely, the ability to trade and sell on your physical games, and the sentimental nature of physical media. But today's story touches on something bigger: The ability for a company to simply revoke access to your paid licenses with the flick of a switch is concerning.

What's really eye-opening here is how fragile your account can be. It doesn't matter how security-minded you are: whether you use 2FA, a password manager with unique passwords for services, or now passkeys, there's always a vector, and there's always a risk. For a company like Microsoft to have such seemingly antiquated and hands-off policies that prevent an account from being reinstated after unauthorised access — even after confirming a user's identity — is madness. I suspect Sony's approach is similar.

Xbox is likely working on a disc-to-digital program to enable users to gain a transferrable digital license for their physical games. The project is codenamed "Positron" (per Jez Corden from Windows Central's podcast), and all reports indicate it's coming relatively soon. At least this approach keeps some purpose for physical media: you keep your disc, and you can still sell it on.

But as all signs are pointing towards a disc-less next generation of consoles, I would expect more rigour and transparency from companies around what your digital license really means, and what changes to policies need to happen to get consumers to swallow it.

Until then: Consider this a PSA to get those baby photos backed up.