Xbox Live is currently down with server issues, as reported by tens of thousands of users since 3:30pm EST or around 8.30PM GMT for those in the UK.
Xbox Live has a history of momentary periods of servers going down, usually for roughly an hour at a time. This time, however, servers have been down for over 3 hours, and this major outage looks much worse than the usual hiccup.
Xbox Live Servers Return After 6 Hours, Some Features Go Back Down
Microsoft finally cracked the code and fixed servers over 6 hours after their initial plummet.
The news was announced in the following Tweet:
Afterward, however, access to The Rec Room has had issues on Xbox Live - marked by the following on the Xbox server status page:
Xbox Live Servers Down for 4 Hours, No Fix Yet
Despite the Xbox team passing on a message saying "We're close to a fix", Xbox Live servers are still down 1 hour after the message.
This makes for 4 hours of Xbox Live downtime, and there's no signs of things coming back up just yet.
"We're close to a fix" says Xbox Team
Players may get back to gaming on Xbox Live soon, as the Xbox team have given a new update on the server status page.
This update reads - "We're close to resolving the issue", and was posted at 6:35pm EST.
Xbox Team Still Working On Fix
Xbox Live server issues have continued for hours, and the Microsoft team is still looking to find a fix for the issue.
The latest update from the team suggests it's more far-reaching than just log in problems, including issues purchasing games and hopping into Xbox Live parties as well.
With the problems only getting worse, we expect Xbox Live servers will be down for hours more.
Xbox Live Servers Down - Current Status
Microsoft is currently on the case, but there's been no luck so far on a fix.
According to the games server status page the following services are currently impacted"
- Account & profile
- Store & subscriptions
- Multiplayer gaming
- Cloud gaming
If you're wondering, Xbox support are also mentioning that the services are experiencing a "Major" outage, as opposed to "limited" issues.
In most cases this means Xbox users may not be able to sign-in to the Xbox profile, with players potentially being disconnected while signed in.
Features that require sign-in like most games, apps and social activity won't be available during this period too.
We will update this piece with news on the topic as it comes in, but for now, you can also check the Xbox Live server status here.
In the meantime, players can still enjoy single-player games that don't require Xbox Live to log in. Or, you can tune in to PlayStation's State of Play event, which will go live at 5pm EST.