Update: After the better part of a week, it seems Microsoft has finally fixed issues with purchasing and launching games. User reports largely seem to back that up, although there are still a few scattered reports of issues. A restart of your system may help in those cases. We'll keep you posted if there are further developments.
Users should no longer encounter issues with purchasing and launching games. Thank you for all the reports and happy gaming!
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) May 11, 2022
Original Story: Many Xbox players looking to unwind this weekend were met with frustration, when Xbox Live outages made playing via the cloud, or even launching digitally-purchased games, impossible. The official Xbox Support page provided updates throughout the weekend, in some cases indicating the problem had been solved, but players continued to report issues playing digital and cloud games.
We're aware that some users are unable to purchase & launch games or start Cloud Gaming sessions. Our teams are investigating. Please keep an eye here and on our status page for updates. https://t.co/kQKp1LYR4o
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) May 7, 2022
Players should no longer be seeing issues when it comes to purchases, launching games, or joining Cloud Gaming sessions. Thanks for being patient. Happy gaming! https://t.co/WTAzvBkgcY
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) May 8, 2022
Now the Xbox Support account has issued another update, that seems to indicate this issue is not something that can be fully resolved with server-side tweaks. Microsoft is now promising an actual firmware update is on the way that should provide “full mitigation” for the problems players have been facing.
We’ve seen significant improvement to the issue that has prevented some users from purchasing and launching games. We expect full mitigation in the coming days with the roll out of a new update.
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) May 9, 2022
Even if Microsoft delivers a fix for this relatively soon, the conversation around it will likely continue. While most people turn a blind eye to console DRM when it works, the fact that you need an online connection to play games you’ve purchased outright understandably doesn’t sit well with a lot of folks. This also kind of casts a pall over Microsoft’s recently unveiled Xbox Everywhere cloud gaming initiative. If they can’t even deliver the most basic of online services, can the company be trusted to deliver consistent cloud access to games?
Any Xbox owners out there been having trouble over the weekend? Are you still having issues? Any tips or hacks for getting things to work (multiple console resets are said by some to help)?
About the author: Professional writer of trivial things. Nathan has been covering games, entertainment, and online culture for over a decade with bylines at IGN, GameSpy, Cracked, Uproxx, ComicBook, and more. Joined Wccftech gaming team in 2017, and has written hundreds of game reviews and thousands of news stories since.
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