Microsoft Azure Outage Affects Xbox Game Downloads, Minecraft, and Other Online Services
Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform is currently experiencing a major outage that has disrupted several key services, including Xbox game downloads, Minecraft, and other online systems connected to Azure’s infrastructure.
According to the official Azure status page, the problem began around 16:00 UTC, when Microsoft detected widespread connectivity issues across multiple regions. The company has attributed the root cause to “an inadvertent configuration change” in the Azure Front Door (AFD) service, a critical system that manages web traffic for many Microsoft and third-party platforms.
Microsoft stated that several teams are working concurrently to mitigate the issue and restore services, but at the time of writing, the outage remains ongoing.
Game developers and publishers have begun alerting players about the situation. On Bluesky, Obsidian Entertainment confirmed that The Outer Worlds 2 may be temporarily unavailable for purchase or installation on Xbox consoles and PC due to the Azure disruption. The studio warned that the issue also affects other Xbox titles relying on Microsoft’s network infrastructure.
Reports from players across various platforms confirm that Minecraft is among the most heavily impacted games, with servers currently down or unstable. Discussions on Reddit and Down Detector show thousands of users reporting failed logins, game timeouts, and inability to connect to multiplayer worlds.
As of now, Microsoft has not provided a timeline for when the affected services will return to normal. The company continues to post live updates through the Azure Service Health Dashboard, urging users to check for real-time information as engineers work toward a full recovery.
This latest Azure outage comes just a week after a massive AWS (Amazon Web Services) failure that briefly took down major online platforms including PlayStation Network, Fortnite, and Roblox, affecting millions of users worldwide. The AWS issues were resolved within a few hours, and Microsoft is expected to deploy a similar rapid-response protocol to restore Azure’s functionality as soon as possible.
For now, players experiencing download or connection errors on Xbox or Minecraft will need to wait until Azure’s connectivity is fully restored. Updates will follow once Microsoft provides confirmation that normal service has resumed.
Are you experiencing any service disruptions today? Let us know what games or platforms are affected on your end.
