Xbox Live outage highlights a major issue with Microsoft's consoles – but there is a fix
Xbox Live outage highlights a major issue with Microsoft's consoles – but there is a fix
Microsoft's Xbox Live service was down for almost seven hours, exposing a huge problem with Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S
❌ Xbox Live was down for almost seven hours yesterday
😖 Users were unable to access their games or other Microsoft-operated services
😡 Even games downloaded locally on the Xbox consoles couldn’t be played
👎 It highlighted a long-standing issue with Microsoft’s always-online approach
Xbox Live suffered a major outage last night, exposing a long-running issue with Microsoft’s Xbox consoles: they’re useless bricks unless you have an online connection.
That might seem true of most devices these days which heavily rely on an internet connection to function. But being unable to play games that you have installed locally to your console or on a disc is unacceptable. However, there is a fix that not many people know about.
As a result of the outage, countless Xbox owners flocked to X to express their anger at being locked out of their consoles, with the downtime lasting almost seven hours. Time is precious, especially when it comes to gaming, meaning those who had planned to relax and play their favorite Xbox titles were unable to do so due to no fault of their own.
One user wrote, “Modern gaming sucks so much. My kid can't play Minecraft during the small window I was going to let him today because Xbox Live is down. Xbox Live should not impact him playing offline, but it does.”
Another disgruntled Xbox owner said: “If I own my games. I shouldn’t need Xbox Live servers to work to play them. I pray there is a lawsuit over this.”
At the time when Xbox Live was down, Microsoft’s Xbox Status support page said: "You may not be able to sign-in to your Xbox profile, may be disconnected while signed in, or have other related problems. Features that require sign-in like most games, apps and social activity won't be available.”
How to play games when Xbox Live is down
Due to the volatile nature of any online service, you can take steps to prevent being at the mercy of Microsoft’s Xbox Live connection in the future. The problem lies with Microsoft requiring users to sign in. If this functionality fails, you’re all but locked out of the console until further notice.
However, here’s how you can still play games you own should Xbox Live go down again. You need to set your console to be your “home” Xbox, which will then allow you to play games, save your game progress sign in to your profile (if you’ve signed in before), earn achievements, and more.
To enable offline functionality, select Profile & system > Settings > General > Personalisation, and then select My home Xbox. You can only have one home Xbox at a time, so if you sign in to multiple consoles, choose your most frequently used console as your home Xbox.
Once you’ve made this change, if Xbox Live goes down again or you’re in a place where you can’t connect to the Xbox network, you can still play downloaded games on your home Xbox. Of course, any game that relies on an online connection like Call of Duty: Warzone, Minecraft, or Fortnite, still won’t be accessible. You’ll also only be able to play discs offline that have already been installed.
Setting your console to your home Xbox also allows anyone who signs in to play games and downloadable content you may have purchased from the Microsoft Store and games from your Xbox Game Pass subscription.
It begs the question as to why Microsoft doesn’t prompt every user who connects to their Xbox console for the first time to make it their “home” Xbox automatically. This would save countless headaches for people in the future.
Needing an online connection to access the most basic features of a console is one of the worst elements of modern-day consoles, but hopefully, you won’t be left with an expensive paperweight the next time Xbox Live inevitably goes down now that you know about this handy workaround.
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.