Xbox confirms disc games unaffected by outage
▼ Summary
– A recent Xbox outage blocked some users from playing disc-based games, prompting Microsoft to clarify that disc entitlement checks should not prevent offline play.
– Xbox technology chief Scott Van Vliet stated that disc-based entitlement checks are designed to allow offline game access, and the outage should not have blocked them.
– The outage, which lasted nearly a day, was caused by an external licensing service issue that prevented some consoles from using saved entitlements.
– Microsoft is rolling out an update to fix the entitlement issue, which prevented offline mode from relying on saved licenses as intended.
– The outage occurs amid tensions over physical media preservation, as Sony plans to stop PlayStation disc production by 2028 and Xbox tests a disc-to-digital feature.
After a widespread Xbox outage over the weekend that even locked players out of offline disc-based games, Microsoft is now working to reassure users that physical ownership still counts under its licensing system. Speaking to The Verge, Xbox technology chief Scott Van Vliet acknowledged that while game discs rely on digital license checks, those checks should not have blocked gameplay during the service disruption or while a console is offline.
“We’re looking into reports that some players were unable to access games using discs as expected during the service interruption. Disc-based entitlement checks should not prevent players from accessing their games and this is by design,” Van Vliet said.
The outage began Sunday night and stretched for nearly a full day, hitting both physical and digital game access. According to the official Xbox status page, users also faced trouble logging in, launching apps, or browsing the Xbox store during the incident. By Monday evening, Microsoft confirmed the issues were resolved. In a post on X the following day, Van Vliet attributed the failure to an external licensing service but did not initially explain why physical discs were affected.
Now, Van Vliet tells The Verge that the company has identified a specific bug that prevented some consoles “from correctly using saved entitlements during the outage.” He added that “Offline mode is also designed to rely on those saved entitlements,” and that a fix will be included in an upcoming update.
These entitlements are essentially digital rights licenses that tell the console what content a user is allowed to access. As Tom’s Hardware points out, Xbox One and Series X/S game discs contain encrypted files with those licenses attached. Microsoft’s own documentation states that titles with full disc support “should be available for offline use.”
The timing of the outage is particularly sensitive. Tensions around the future of physical media are escalating. Sony plans to halt all production of physical PlayStation game discs by 2028, while Xbox is currently testing a disc-to-digital feature that would let owners create digital copies of their physical games. If Microsoft wants users to trust that those discs will remain functional after being digitized, it must first prove they work reliably in their current physical form.
(Source: The Verge)
