… In a statement to The Verge, Xbox technology chief Scott Van Vliet says that while physical game discs are subject to licensing inspections, that shouldn’t have prevented them from working during this week’s outage, or while consoles are offline. “We’re looking into reports that some players were u… …
… The outage itself affected everything from log-ins to application launches, and from online play to this strange issue of discs not running as intended. …
… Not like it would change much, as Microsoft's server outage hasn't even spared my precious physical disc-based games - Not my discs! …
… Eurogamer has tested this outage on our own console but not found an issue with starting up games ourselves. …
… Amid PlayStation's move toward a digital-only console , physical discs have become a sensitive topic. Any development, such as Xbox's outage and its impact on discs, can quickly cause backlash on social media, with thousands of players criticizing video game companies. …
Xbox explains what caused this week's 'unacceptable' major outage An executive pinned the blame on "a licensing service that sits outside of Xbox." By Kris Holt July 28, 2026 11:55 am EST Many Xbox users were unable to play games on their consoles for a large chunk of Monday . …
… During that outage and this new Xbox fiasco, some players and online commentators pointed out that as Sony kills physical discs in 2028 and games like Grand Theft Auto VI skip discs altogether , this is a preview of the future. …
… Question 1 Which Xbox systems or services were impacted during the 16-hour outage? Question 2 How does this outage relate to concerns about digital ownership versus physical discs? Question 3 Could a banned account still be affected and locked out of physical disc games during an outage? …
… Many are furious that it took Xbox so long to acknowledge the outages, and hope that a fix is rolled out soon. Right now, there’s no word on how long the outages will last, meaning that many will have to cancel any plans they had to play their Xbox games today. …
… Last week, a PSN outage led to similar issues on PlayStation 5. It became a fresh data point for the pitfalls of all-digital gaming among the many fans criticizing Sony over its upcoming move away from discs. …