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Xbox Live is down again as people play more games in self-isolation

Microsoft's online gaming service is not working for everyone right now.
Image Credit: Jeff Grubb/GamesBeat

Xbox Live is down once again. This time the technical issues come on a Friday evening as millions of people shelter in their homes to fight the spread of coronavirus. Microsoft has confirmed the problems, and it is working to get its network back up and running.

This outage is preventing people from logging into Xbox Live. It’s also causing multiple issues with social features like parties and matchmaking. This is preventing online multiplayer from functioning properly. But, more broadly, people are encountering issues getting into games or matches in Call of Duty and more.

Microsoft, however, thinks it has a fix in sights:

“We believe we have identified the issue causing some members to have problems signing in to Xbox Live,” reads Microsoft’s support page. “Thanks for your patience as the team works to resolve the issue.”


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This is the third major outage for Xbox Live over the past week.

On Twitter, Spencer confirmed that more people are online playing games:

“Usage is up on almost everything. Thanks go out to all the Ops/IT teams at all the companies that are working hard to keep everything running smoothly with all going on around them.”

That is primarily due to people staying in to avoid contracting COVID-19 through exposure to the coronavirus. States like California, New York, and Connecticut have closed non-essential businesses. And this is causing even more people to stay inside and play video games.

Doom Eternal also launched today for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.