Xbox Live stops working

UPDATE, July 2, 9:01 p.m. ET: Microsoft said it has resolved the technical issues that were taking Xbox Live offline for nearly seven hours. “Users should no longer have issues signing in to Xbox Live and services,” the Xbox support account on X posted at 8:49 p.m. ET. “Thanks for your patience, the game is still on!”

BEFORE:

Xbox Live, Microsoft’s multiplayer gaming and digital media network, suffered a major outage on Tuesday as thousands of users reported problems accessing the service.

User-reported issues with the Xbox Live service began to spike around 2:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday, according to the monitoring website Downdetector. As of 2:25 p.m., the site had logged more than 23,000 crash reports, with more than three-quarters indicating login issues. Some Xbox Live users reported seeing an error message saying the service was undergoing “planned maintenance.”

For other Microsoft-operated services, including Minecraft and the Microsoft Store, users have reported numerous errors on Downdetector.

The official Xbox support account for X posted at 2:55 p.m. ET: “We’re aware that some users have been disconnected from Xbox Live. We’re investigating!” The message directed users to the Xbox status page — which was eventually updated to say that a major “Account and Profile” service outage had been reported at 2:07 p.m. ET. “You may be unable to sign in to your Xbox profile, may be disconnected while signing in, or may experience other related issues,” the message on the Xbox status page read. “Features that require you to sign in, such as most games, apps, and social activities, will not be available.”

Microsoft requires users to have an Xbox Live account (which is free) to play online games and use other features on your Xbox console, Windows PC, and Xbox mobile apps.

Xbox Live users have expressed their dissatisfaction with technical issues on social media: