Microsoft Has Resolved the Xbox Live Issue that Caused an Outage that Lasted Several Hours

Xbox users are hoping to enjoy longer and more solid playtime over the weekend after an outage on May 8 that lasted for nine hours.

On Sunday, May 8, around 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Microsoft issued a tweet acknowledging that some users could not purchase and launch games or join Cloud Gaming sessions.

The service Downdetector also logged a spike in error reports on Xbox around that time.

Microsoft Fixes Xbox Issue

Xbox players could have switched to physical discs if they owned a console that had a disc slot or, they could have played the games offline. But, according to The Verge, even offline play was not working for some users.

Microsoft posted an update around 1:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Monday, May 9, saying players should no longer be experiencing those issues, though Downdetector notes a series of new complaints until the morning of May 9.

Adding to players' frustrations is the fact that this is the second Xbox Network outage so far this weekend.

Xbox suffered the same outage that began the late afternoon of Saturday, May 7, and extended into the morning of May 8, with Microsoft then, too, warning of problems with launching and buying games, and starting Cloud Gaming sessions, according to Engadget.

In addition, Microsoft admitted that some users were also struggling during the earlier outage accessing streaming apps like Netflix and Disney+.

Microsoft only claimed to have fully resolved the May 7 outage at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on May 8, about three hours before user complaints began to spike again.

Xbox Outage Timeline

On Friday, May 6, the Xbox team reported that Xbox Network issues were preventing players from making purchases in the Microsoft Store.

Around 6:35 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the Xbox team, unfortunately, reported that other issues popped up that prevented Xbox Cloud Gaming sessions or digital games from launching, according to Windows Central.

On May 7, around 2:11 a.m. Central Time, 11 hours after the outage was initially reported, the Xbox team declared that the Xbox Network was running normally.

For many players, this was the end of the issue, but some players were still reporting issues with launching and playing their digital games.

The Xbox team presented a manual fix. The team asked players to restart their home internet, going to the Settings app on their Xbox, going to the "System" tab, and clicking on "Storage devices" apps.

Under the page, players were instructed to select "Clear local saved games" option located in the upper left-hand corner. Once the option was selected, players had to confirm their choice by selecting "Yes."

On May 8, Xbox Support announced that the outage had been resolved, but some players reported new issues.

A lot of players struggled to make purchases, launch and maintain Xbox Cloud Gaming sessions, and launch and play digital games. After four hours, the situation still hasn't improved.

The Xbox Support suggested the affected players reboot their Xbox. The Xbox Network team is aware of the issue that other players are experiencing and is currently investigating it, but for the rest, everything should be up and running.

This is not the first time that Xbox Live has experienced an outage.

In 2019, Xbox Live had issues that disrupted the early access start of "Gear 5."

In 2021, the Microsoft server was down, affecting Xbox Live.

Related Article: 'Halo Infinite' Servers Are Down: Outage Reports Shared All Over Twitter

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Sophie Webster