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3h ago

Xbox Outage Shows Discs Can Be Disabled by Online License Failures

The incident revealed that entitlement checks tied to an external licensing provider can make both downloaded and disc-based games unplayable, prompting Microsoft to promise a software fix.

A glowing green, shattered Xbox sphere floats above a ruined, post-apocalyptic cityscape, with a weathered game controller and disc in the foreground.
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A PlayStation 5 controller and an open, empty retail game case containing a card that reads ''Digital Only'' are seen, with the text ''the end of retail'' displayed on a screen in the background

Overview

  • Microsoft’s Xbox network outage on Monday, July 27 blocked sign-ins and stopped many players from launching games for roughly a day, with services restored after engineers shifted traffic and repaired systems.
  • Microsoft traced the disruption to an external licensing/entitlement provider that failed for about 16 hours, which caused license checks to fail across Xbox services and consoles.
  • Engineers found a bug that prevented some consoles from correctly using saved entitlements stored on the device, which turned discs that should run offline into unusable media during the outage.
  • Microsoft has opened a post-incident review and said it will issue a console update to stop future outages from locking out disc-based games, but it has not given a timeline or explained exactly which consoles or titles were affected.
  • The episode deepens worries about a shift to digital-only sales as Sony plans to stop new PlayStation discs after January 2028, fueling consumer, retail, legal, and preservation concerns about long-term access to paid games.