Xbox Live outage — login and game save syncing issues affected millions globally

Looks like problems with Microsoft's gaming service

News
By last updated
Xbox Live logo
(Image credit: © Shutterstock)

On Tuesday, February 17, Xbox Live ran into trouble, with complaints skyrocketing after 10am ET. Microsoft itself admitted there's an issue on its status page, under "Games and gaming." This issue has now been fixed!

Some users reported not being able to login to their games with Xbox. While we haven't been able to replicate this in either the U.S. or U.K., there was definitely an issue with game save syncs — being unable to upload save data to the cloud to be synced across devices.

Refresh

BREAKING: Game Save syncing is working

Xbox Live logo

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Both in the U.S. and the U.K., Xbox Live cloud game saves are working. Not only that, but logins are working both on the PC Xbox app and Xbox consoles. Based on this confirmation and our methods of analyzing outages showing the service as running, I'm happy to say the outage is resolved.

We'll keep a close eye on the situation — just in case the mitigation causes any further issues.

Game save syncs still not working

Screenshot of Cities: Skylines II on Steam, shwoing a problem with save syncing

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

No word of a joke, I've closed and reopened the Xbox app multiple times, and it's still showing 26%.

Microsoft says the issues aren't over yet

Screenshot of Microsoft's Xbox status page, showing problems with syncing game saves

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Another look at the Xbox Live status page shows the issue hasn't been resolved yet.

Is it over?

Down detector

(Image credit: Down detector)

The Down Detector spike has quickly dropped off. But in our own testing, that game save sync is still hung on 26%. Closed and reopened the app and still issues. We're keeping a close eye on it.

No log-in issues, but other problems?

Screenshot of Cities: Skylines II on Game Pass, showing a problem with save syncing

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Some users seem to be having problems logging into Xbox in the first place, but we're not having that same trouble. The most we're seeing is a save-syncing issue - when trying to save Cities: Skylines II in the screenshot above, the sync hung on 26% for a whole five minutes.

Xbox on X's last transmission

There's nothing on any of Xbox's official X accounts, including Xbox Support. The most recent official message was from Xbox Game Pass, announcing the latest batch of games. It may be a coincidence, but that is around the time outage reports began to climb.

What's Microsoft saying?

Screenshot of Microsoft's Xbox status page, showing problems with syncing game saves

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Looking at Microsoft's own Xbox Status page, we see a yellow warning sign for syncing games. So be careful if you've not backed up your saves recently - you may want to wait to try until after whatever issue we're having has passed.

Ouch, that's a nasty spike

A Downdetector graph showing a spike in Xbox Live issues

(Image credit: Downdetector)

We've been keeping an eye on this Downdetector chart for the past hour or so, and so far the numbers have kept climbing. But unlike your level in an RPG or the damage output of your favorite FPS weapon, this is a number we don't want to be large.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.