All articles tagged with #xbox live
Xbox’s online services are down in a major outage, preventing sign-ins, viewing the store, and launching downloaded, disc-based, or backwards-compatible games, while multiplayer and cloud-based features largely remain available. Microsoft says engineers are investigating, and the downtime arrives amid layoffs in its gaming division and ongoing discussions about a digital-only future for consoles.
Xbox services experienced a widespread outage on July 27, affecting thousands of players (Downdetector reports peaked above 3,000). There was no official Xbox statement at the time, and many users encountered the 0x87e107df error. While guidance suggests offline network mode and a console restart, such user-side fixes are unlikely to resolve issues during a server outage that disrupts Xbox Live license verification.
Xbox Live outage is affecting core services—Account & Profile, Store & Subscriptions, and Apps & Mobile—causing many users to be unable to access downloaded games due to a license verification check, even for offline titles. The issue has been flagged on the Xbox Live Status Checker and driven widespread social-media reports, mainly in the US, from late July 26 into July 27; Microsoft is expected to provide updates.
Today's broad news roundup spans tech, sports, entertainment, and science: Epstein was permanently banned from Xbox Live for harassment; Lindsey Vonn provided a comeback update after her crash; Babbel promotes a lifetime subscription; the digest also notes a bodybuilder's death, RHONY's spinoff move to E!, a cannibal jellyfish in Venice's lagoon, and sulfur-bearing molecule found in space, among other brief items.
A group of dedicated fans has launched Insignia, a free, unofficial original Xbox Live replacement, to revive the online multiplayer component for the original Xbox game console, with a public beta launching today to bring back Halo 2's multiplayer servers. The beta will include ten multiplayer matchmaking playlists, and the project has garnered attention from former Bungie employee Max Hoberman. This initiative comes ahead of the 20th anniversary of Halo 2, offering fans a chance to relive the game's influential online component.
Insignia, an unofficial Xbox Live replacement, is launching Halo 2 multiplayer servers on March 15, allowing players with original Xbox consoles to access 10 multiplayer playlists. While the project supports close to 200 Xbox games and has over 10,000 registered users, finding matches may still be a challenge. This revival of Halo 2's multiplayer not only provides a fun tech opportunity but also contributes to games preservation, offering an alternative way to experience the game beyond the Master Chief Collection.
Microsoft will pay $20 million to settle allegations by the US government that it violated children's privacy by illegally collecting their personal information through its Xbox Live gaming service. The Federal Trade Commission accused Microsoft of failing to inform parents about the full extent of information it gathered from children under 13, including images, video and audio recordings, real names, and activity logs. Microsoft also allegedly kept the personal information of millions of people, including children, who started creating accounts with Xbox Live but never completed the sign-up process. The settlement includes additional measures beyond the financial penalty, such as deleting any personal information collected from kids who don't complete the account registration process and notifying third-party game publishers when a user may be a child.
Microsoft has announced the Xbox Live Games with Gold titles for April 2023, which includes Out of Space: Couch Edition and Peaky Blinders: Mastermind. These games can be claimed by Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Xbox Games with Gold no longer includes Xbox 360 titles. Xbox Game Pass titles for April have not been confirmed yet, but Ghostwire: Tokyo is expected to be one of them.