Daniel Mercer
The technology executive announced that a solution for the identified error will be implemented shortly.
Earlier this week, Xbox faced an unusual outage. Users experienced a complete disruption of online services for nearly an entire day, and many discovered that even their physical disc games were unplayable. Scott Van Vliet, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, addressed this issue, attributing it to complications with an external licensing service. If you’re wondering why discs wouldn’t function during an outage, your concerns are valid.
In a recent statement to The Verge, Van Vliet emphasized that the licensing issues should not have impacted access to disc-based games. “We are investigating reports that some players were unable to play their disc games during the service disruption. Disc entitlement checks are designed to allow continued access to games, even without online services,” he noted. He further clarified that disc entitlements are supposed to be stored locally, enabling gameplay when the console goes offline. Unfortunately, the system responsible for this function failed, but a resolution is on the way with an upcoming update.
This incident adds to the mounting challenges facing Xbox, especially after a difficult year in 2025 that included management changes, price increases, and the announcement of 3,200 job cuts.
