Xbox Live is down again — for the ninth time since Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, it’s affecting more than just Xbox One gamers this go-around. The venerable service, which enjoyed great stability during the Xbox 360 days, has been something of a crap shoot since the Xbox One launched in 2013. Consistent outages and interruptions with the service, exacerbated within the last three weeks or so, are affecting user’s faith in the service altogether, something that consumers pay money to keep stable.
According to users and the official Xbox Support Twitter feed , many Xbox Live consumers are having issues with logging into their systems, regardless of platform. Whether you are trying to play Netflix on your Xbox One or see if the new Gears of War Ultimate Edition update fixed the issues plaguing the game , you can’t because every feature on Xbox One or the Windows 10 store seems tied to your Xbox Live account.
Consumers have been venting frustration over the outages all over Twitter today, with many calling into question why they spend the money on the service in the first place.
Wow I get the new maps and Xbox decides to go down
— KayJ (@DaroKayJ) March 5, 2016
#XboxLiveDown again?! What’s going on with @Xbox services lately, shame I’m not @SnoopDogg to get apologize gifts.
— TIA DO ZAP (@RuyGTR) March 5, 2016
Why is this happening @Xbox #XboxLiveDown pic.twitter.com/b7tS9RawNX
— John117Jr (@John117Jr) March 5, 2016
Nothing like Xbox Live’s core services being down on a Saturday (the day most working married adults get to play) pic.twitter.com/OJSQ63ppyz
— Jeffrey Tschiltsch (@jeffreytz) March 5, 2016
However, this new round of outages doesn’t just affect Xbox One users anymore. Anyone looking to play their games via the Windows 10 store is also out of luck, as games such as Gears of War: Ultimate Edition and Gigantic (which is currently in beta with no NDA) require an Xbox Live account to play. With Gigantic , it makes sense: it’s multiplayer only. But Gears of War has a substantial single player element, something that is also locked out when you don’t have a connection to Xbox Live.
With Microsoft shoehorning Xbox Live services into their games moving forward, PC users are now subject to Xbox Live outages, much like Xbox One users. While the latter might cry foul at the fact that PC users don’t have to pay for the service, the outages affect them all the same, rendering whatever game they did pay for useless. As a result of today’s outages, I was unable to test the new update to see if Gears of War: Ultimate Edition was stable. Instead, a game I paid money for was completely locked out for me. This is an issue whether you pay for a service or not, as Microsoft’s server instability rendered that investment useless for anyone attempting to play. This also poses a potential issue with the upcoming release of Quantum Break , as Xbox One users will be required to stream the in-game TV show from Xbox Live, something that will be impossible if weekly outages continue to rage against the platform.
Upset about the latest round of Xbox Live outages? PC gamer or Xbox One gamer – sound off in the comments below.
[Image via The Coalition]
