Xbox Suffers Major Outage Affecting Sign-In, Library, and Game Launch; Microsoft Investigating

If you're having trouble logging into Xbox, you're not alone. A major outage is currently affecting account and profile sign-in, browsing the game store, and launching games. Microsoft acknowledged the issue on social media, stating that its teams are working on it. The outage began earlier today, July 27. In a tweet just before 1 PM UK time, Microsoft said, "Just checking in on the game library, sign-in, and game launch issue. We know this has been going on a while and appreciate your patience while our teams keep working on it." The timing is particularly problematic, as Halo: Combat Evolved is set to launch fully on July 28 after three days of early access for Premium Edition owners. This Xbox outage comes less than a week after Sony's PlayStation Network experienced a similar disruption. Sony's outage was especially ill-timed amid backlash over its decision to end physical disc production for new PlayStation games by 2028. Critics argue that online service failures preventing access to owned games highlight the downsides of an all-digital future. In response, gamers are planning a week-long boycott of PlayStation next month. While Microsoft hasn't announced plans to stop Xbox disc production, it is reportedly set to release a next-gen Xbox without a disc drive, hinting at a similar long-term strategy. Microsoft's Xbox support page currently lists the resolution for these issues as "pending." We'll keep you updated on any developments.