Xbox downtime leaves some users unable to boot games

Some Xbox users were left unable to purchase or launch games for 12 hours on Friday and Saturday, after Microsoft’s servers experienced a major outage.

The server issues were first acknowledged by Microsoft’s support team at 1:46pm PT / 9:46pm BST on Friday, when it said it was aware that some users were unable to “purchase games, launch games or start Cloud Gaming sessions.”

Microsoft appeared to fix the purchasing issues within a few hours, but it wasn’t until nearly 12 hours later that all affected users were once again able to launch their purchased games or start cloud gaming sessions.

At the time of publishing this story, Xbox Support has acknowledged that some users are still unable to access media streaming apps such as Netflix and Disney+.

The downtime again highlights the potential problems of online DRM, and how such systems can sometimes lock users out of software they’ve purchased.

YouTuber and developer at Night Dive Studios ModernVintageGamer criticised the downtime, calling online DRM “cancer”.

Journalist Ben Turpin added: “This is why Microsoft needs to get off their high horse and actually remove DRM. I’m sure this violates consumer rights.

“What if Xbox Live is down for a week due to a major hack? Then no one can play their own digital games. I have so much respect for Microsoft, but DRM sucks.”

The downtime again highlights the issue of preservation in the games industry, and the challenges developers face keeping their games playable in the future, should crucial services such as Xbox Live ever disappear.

Journalist Brittany Vincent argued in a VGC column that the games industry needs to increase its efforts for preserving video games, before more titles are lost to time.