With the special edition of the Xbox One X selling out as quickly as it became available for preorder, things seem to be looking up for Microsoft. That is, until a couple nights ago, when Xbox Live suddenly went down, leaving Microsoft scrambling to find a way to fix it quickly. According to an article from Forbes, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC gamers were left unable to play online multiplayer games, download games, or load apps like Netflix and Hulu. Some gamers couldn’t even play single-player games unless they switched to offline mode.
Microsoft quickly addressed the problem on Twitter, reassuring people that “The proper teams are still working to get Xbox Live & xbox.com back on track!” Microsoft posted a similar message on their Xbox Live status page, but some people reported that even that page was having trouble loading. The error didn’t seem to affect every Xbox Live member, but a sizable portion of players were left without any access. Naturally, many gamers hoping to play some Destiny or Overwatch were very upset about the situation, including Snoop Dogg.
In response to gamers such as the Doggfather, Microsoft left this reassuring message on their Xbox Live status page:
We are aware that some members may be having problems purchasing content. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we will be sure to provide you with frequent updates.
Fortunately, whatever Microsoft was doing worked, as Xbox Live was back up and running yesterday.
This was certainly an embarrassing blunder for Microsoft, but not nearly as bad as Nintendo’s fiasco with the SNES Classic pre-orders. At the moment, it seems Sony’s PlayStation is winning the console war.