Police searching for an Ontario teenager whose disappearance may be connected to online video games say there is a possibility he is no longer in the country.

Brandon Crisp left his Barrie, Ont., home on Oct. 13 after his parents revoked his Xbox privileges because he had become obsessed with the video game Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He has not been seen since.

Brandon Crisp, in a photo provided by his family. (Barrie Examiner/Canadian Press)

Investigators said they are not discounting reports that some of Brandon's gaming friends were in the United States, according to a report Wednesday in the Barrie Examiner.

"We don't know where he is, so there is that potential that he could have gone south of the border," Sgt. Dave Goodbrand told the local newspaper.

"That's a scenario we have to consider, whether he went across on his own will or against his will."

Police are investigating any possible role the videogame system, manufactured by Microsoft, may have played in Brandon's disappearance. Players of the online games come from all over the world, Goodbrand said Wednesday.

"It's definitely one of the reasons we wanted to push the story nationally and internationally," he told the Examiner.

Brandon's parents have been urging police to look for more clues in their son's laptop and Xbox hard drive.

Steve Crisp has said he is convinced the key to his son's disappearance lies in someone he met online while playing the game, and that police need to put more effort into their online investigation.

"I really need the help of the police now in really delving in and getting right to this Xbox hard drive," to find Brandon's contacts, he told CBC News on Sunday.

The crime show America's Most Wanted has posted a profile of Brandon on its website that includes a photograph of the blond-haired teen and a description of him as an "avid online gamer who specifically plays 1st person shooters."

"If investigators feel that Brandon may have crossed the border, we could look into broadcasting something," show spokesman Avery Mann told the Examiner Wednesday.

The program was reportedly told about Brandon's disappearance by Child Save, a missing child registry system that operates across Canada and the U.S.

Hundreds of volunteers have been looking for the boy around Barrie, about 100 kilometres north of Toronto, but to no avail. The teen was last seen the day he disappeared on a trail several kilometres from his house. His abandoned bike was discovered elsewhere earlier this week.

A candlelight vigil was scheduled for Wednesday night in Shanty Bay, just east of Barrie. It was organized by the operators of the Facebook group 'Where is Brandon Crisp,' which currently has more than 17,000 members.

With files from the Canadian Press