Microsoft Confirms Xbox Outage Did Not Impact Games on Disc

Following a recent Xbox outage that even prevented players from accessing offline disc-based console games, Microsoft has responded to concerns regarding ownership under the Xbox license system. Xbox technology chief Scott Van Vliet, in a statement to The Verge, reassured users that while physical game discs are subject to licensing checks, they should still function during outages or when consoles are offline.

Van Vliet stated, “We’re investigating reports of players experiencing difficulty accessing games using discs during the service interruption. Checks for disc-based entitlements should not hinder players from playing their games, as this is intentional.”

The outage, which began on Sunday night and lasted nearly a day, affected console owners’ ability to play games, both physical and digital, as confirmed by the Xbox status page. Issues included difficulties logging in, launching apps, and accessing the Xbox store. Xbox announced that the problems were resolved by Monday evening. Van Vliet, in an update on X, attributed the outage to an external licensing service but did not explain why disc-based games were impacted.

Van Vliet has now informed The Verge that Xbox has identified an issue that prevented some consoles from utilizing saved entitlements correctly during the outage. He mentioned that “Offline mode is designed to depend on these saved entitlements.” A fix to prevent future occurrences will be included in an upcoming update.

These “entitlements” refer to digital rights licenses that specify the content a user can access. Game discs for Xbox One and Series S/X consoles contain encrypted files with attached licenses. According to Microsoft’s documentation, games with full disc support should be accessible offline.

The outage occurred amidst ongoing discussions about the preservation of physical media. Sony plans to halt the production of physical PlayStation game discs by 2028, while Xbox is testing a disc-to-digital feature for creating digital copies of physically owned games. Microsoft must ensure that these discs remain playable after being digitized, emphasizing the importance of their current functionality in physical form.