Xbox Live has gone down intermittently this weekend due to a number of technical disruptions. Xbox boss Phil Spencer said his teams are seeing increased demand, and the company is working to keep Xbox Live online.
The Xbox Live outages are keeping people from signing into the service across Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Windows. In turn, that is preventing players from booting up digital games or others that require a connection to the internet.
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.”
So online services are continuing to experience disruptions. In the meantime, however, players are often stuck with no way to access games like the just-released Call of Duty: Warzone, Fortnite, and Apex Legends. This outage is also causing problems loading video apps like Netflix and Hulu.
This outage comes as concerns regarding coronavirus and COVID-19 are on the rise. Local, state, and federal authorities are advising people to enact social-distancing and stay at home where possible. In response to these fears, major sports leagues like the NBA are suspending their seasons.
Video games, however, are still a safe hobby since they provide people a way to socialize without physical interaction. But as more people turn to online games, it could put strain on server capacity. That’s something we’ve already seen happen in Italy, and it could get worse in other regions around the world.