Xbox Live went down

[Ringo]

XBox Live was down again a couple of days ago and people had trouble purchasing items and even downloading them after purchase. It was also difficult to create new accuounts. I hope Microsoft fixes these issues once and for all.

 

[girlgotgame]

I don't know what it is but Xbox Live has some serious issues. It seems like it's always down! Or at least, only semi-functioning. I don't think the PS4 network is any better, though, so maybe it is just hard to keep these networks up at running all the time.

 

[SashaS]

It's hard to keep a constant and stable service when so many people are connected to it, especially when you're talking about games. PSN Network is apparently much worse, constantly prone to crashes, downtime and hackers. The Xbox may not be superior in every way but in terms of their Live/Online services, Xbox reigns supreme. Microsoft is one of the world's biggest companies and you can rely on them to fix any problem that happens because it's their job and their reputation is at stake.

 

[StockSwockle]

XBL will probably be erratic for a little while longer, these things never have a simple quick fix. If it's like this now, it's because you can't just throw professional skills at it, it is obviously something tricky. If you're microsoft, you're losing money to this, and losing more in the long run, there MUST be an odd thing happening behind the curtain

 

[Starman]

I keep referring people to buy stuff online and a few of them contacted me on that day. I was able to persuade them to wait for a few hours and assured them that it is a one-off issue and never happens regularly.

 

[pwarbi]

Well if you told them that it never happens regularly then that was a bit of a stretching of the truth shall we call it, because it's beginning to happen more and more!

While I'm not blaming Microsoft entirely, as its still a lot more reliable than the Sony servers, it's still an issue that they could do with addressing because it is getting VERY frustrating when you spend all that money on the console and games, but can't access half the content!

 

[rz3300]

Well this was one of my main fears when I originally started to use X Box Live, but I was pretty satisfied and pleased to say that it really did not happen as often as I thought it would. That said, it did tend to happen very inopportune times for me, when I was really in a good place, but I guess that is just par for the course.

 

[pwarbi]

I'd imagine that if you ask most gamers, the fact that the servers have gone down is something that a lot of people can live with as like you say it doesn't happen that much. The main issue for a lot of people is more WHEN the network goes off line as it does always seem to be at a crucial moment during a game, or when you've been looking forward to having a gaming session all day, you finally get home and you've got your beers and your pizza, sit down and realise you get get on!

 

[Guy]

I don't know what it is but Xbox Live has some serious issues. It seems like it's always down! Or at least, only semi-functioning. I don't think the PS4 network is any better, though, so maybe it is just hard to keep these networks up at running all the time.

Actually PS4 network is much better. I remember when they had their ups and downs, but they were quick to fix them. When live goes down, I just stop playing because I don't know for sure when things will be OK again. With PSN I've always noticed a quick fix pattern..

 

[pwarbi]

When either service goes down, then it causes major issues for gamers and quiet rightly there is a lot of complaints. At the end of the day we are paying a lot of money to use these services and in the past it used to be on a regular basis the service wasn't available and that simply isn't good enough.

These days both the Xbox Live and Playstation network have been a lot more stable and it looks like we might eventually be getting the service we deserve. While I think that people are usually understanding if a service goes down, at the same time they want open dialogue as to hy, and for it to be fixed quickly. Both Sony and Microsoft failed to do that and that was the main cause of the frustration.

 

[NormaD]

XBox Live does have a very major issue when it comes to their servers. There are always problems when people try to purchase and download their purchases. Yes a lot of people are using the service so it might be a bit hard to keep it operating smoothly and in a stable way, but Microsoft really needs to address this issue as soon as possible.

 

[pwarbi]

For a company as wealthy and as big as what Microsoft is, sever issues really shouldn't be an issue in this day and age and especially not as frequent as what they are. Microsoft seem to forget that we are actually paying for this service, and for people to complain and get no response whatsoever is just poor customer service in my opinion, and I think it's just another sign that Microsoft as got that big that they are starting to neglect the people that made them that big in the first place...us, the customers.

 

[SirJoe]

I think that they weren't expecting so many people to use it. This sort of failures happen when there are too many people on the site and the servers can't handle it. I really think that Microsoft has to give this issue a lot more importance then what it has until now.

 

[Casiox]

Microsoft manages a lot of servers and it might be something quite rude for them to handle the whole issue by themselves, I know that it's not a valid reason for a company that has a lot of employees and whatnot, but we could consider it as one, not to think any further about the problem, they will fix all those problems sooner or later, that's for sure.

 

[pwarbi]

I think that they weren't expecting so many people to use it. This sort of failures happen when there are too many people on the site and the servers can't handle it. I really think that Microsoft has to give this issue a lot more importance then what it has until now.

In the beginning I think you may be right, and while i do think that Microsoft new that the Xbox Live would be popular, I don't think they realised just ho much and that put a lot of pressure on the servers that they didn't expect. As time went on though, I expected Microsoft to be able to put measures in place to combat that and make the service more reliable, and while recently it IS a lot better than it used to be, I still get the feeling that we're always only a couple of days away from the next big outage.

We pay a high enough price every year to be able to expect a better service than what I think we are getting, and while I know that as with any server it's an ongoing process, Microsoft should have the capabilities and money to be able to provide a better service than what they actually do in my opinion.

 

[SirJoe]

@pwarbi it most certainly is something that should never happen. If Microsoft was just a gaming company it could be excusable, but it one of the biggest if not the biggest IT company. They should be able to install a new server in no time at all.

 

[pwarbi]

There's no real excuse for them not to be able to provide the service without the issues. I do get that hackers and trolls are getting more and more advanced, but again, a company like Microsoft should be one step ahead with the amount of resources they have available to them.

We're not saying it's easy, but we are being charged for a service that at times isn't available and we very rarely get any discount or compensation. Either reduce the cost of the service, or at least factor in the downtime to reflect the price we pay.

 

[R ui Li]

always,offen...