The Xbox Cloud Gaming service experienced downtime starting on Thursday, as reported by the official Xbox Support Twitter account. The service allows users to play Xbox games on various devices such as phones and tablets. Although the service is slowly coming back online, it is not yet functioning at full capacity. Users attempting to launch Cloud Gaming titles may experience long queue times, although the actual wait time is expected to be shorter than indicated.
On the Xbox Status page, the issue was reported to have started at 1:42 p.m. ET/10:42 a.m. PT and is still being worked on, with a resolution status listed as “pending.” Some users reported wait times exceeding three hours when trying to launch games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. The subreddit for Xbox Cloud Gaming, r/xcloud, showcased reports of users from various countries experiencing issues with accessing the service on different devices such as Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is a feature included with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership, allowing subscribers to play a wide selection of games on their devices. The global nature of the problem, with users from Germany, Costa Rica, and Brazil reporting issues, suggests that the outage is widespread. It is speculated that the influx of new Xbox owners after Christmas may have contributed to the service interruption. This situation contrasts with a decade ago when both Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network experienced downtime on Christmas due to a cyberattack by a hacker group.
As the Xbox Support team continues to work on resolving the issues with the Cloud Gaming service, users are advised to be patient when attempting to launch a game. While queue times may appear long, the actual connection process is expected to be quicker than indicated. The significance of Cloud Gaming in providing accessibility to Xbox games on multiple devices highlights the importance of addressing service interruptions promptly to ensure a seamless user experience. By keeping users informed through official channels like the Xbox Support Twitter account, Microsoft aims to minimize disruptions and maintain customer satisfaction.
