It's not just you — Xbox Live is having some issues.
Best answer: Yes, Xbox Live is currently experiencing issues with opening games and accessing purchases on October 23, 2019. Microsoft has acknowledged problems, with work on a fix currently underway.
[h=2]Xbox Live is down on October 23, 2019[/h]Microsoft has acknowledged ongoing issues affecting Xbox Live, primarily limiting access to purchased content and downloading new titles. The outage has prevents Xbox One and Xbox 360 users from accessing installed games and apps. Sign-in appears to be unaffected, as of publication.
"We're aware that some users are having trouble launching owned content & our teams are investigating now," Microsoft stated via the Xbox Support Twitter account. "We'll update here & on our status page: xbox.com/status when we have additional info."
While Xbox Live is currently experiencing issues, a formal workaround appears to involve disconnecting your Xbox One console from the internet. While it fully removes the console's online capabilities, it revokes access to current server-side issues.
[h=2]Why is Xbox Live down?[/h]
Xbox Live is Microsoft's cohesive online platform positioned at the heart of its gaming ambitions. The service handles tens of millions of users across Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Windows PCs, alongside a pool of handheld devices. And despite everyday reliability, Xbox Live falls offline on occasion.
Microsoft seldom talks technicalities when Xbox Live goes down, often providing timely solutions and moving forward. While the cause is often unclear, Xbox Live can experience technical hiccups, high traffic during busy periods, or malicious distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks hammering Microsoft servers. Redmond has teams working around the clock to ensure Xbox Live stability, and outages are natural with time.
That doesn't make outages less frustrating, with recorded downtime seemingly on the rise in recent months. However, outages are often addressed with fast turnarounds and pose no security threat.
[h=2]How to use your Xbox One offline[/h]
The Xbox One is Microsoft's latest console family, with deep-rooted ties to Xbox Live and Microsoft services. Once those services fall offline, the Xbox One loses an extensive list of daily operations, beyond Xbox Live social features.
Xbox One games are usually playable while Xbox Live is down, but only when your console is flagged as your "Home" device or a physical disc is used. Multiplayer titles lose full server connectivity, as well as single-player experiences with online restrictions. The downtime also knocks down media streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Spotify, even if respective services are fully functional. OneGuide mandates Xbox Live too, rendering OTA TV guides inaccessible.
The Xbox One retains some system-level features, such as game captures, screenshots, and achievement tracking. And all locally-stored licenses grant access to your digital content. But compared to a connected Xbox One, going offline gets dull fast.
To stay prepared for potential future outages, ensure your Xbox One is set as your Home console, especially when using multiple devices. It ties all digital licenses to your local hardware, ensuring you're set to play when Xbox Live is unreachable. However, games with an online requirement remain unplayable, given a need to use Xbox Live servers.
[h=2]Waiting for Xbox Live to go back online?[/h]We get you — as Xbox consoles increasingly rely on Xbox Live services, going offline is far from ideal. While you're waiting around for Microsoft to address the issue, why not check out these affordable Xbox One accessories?
Full story from the WindowsCentral blog...
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