Microsoft Says Xbox Live Outage Due To Server Strain

Kotaku, Wed Jan 9 2008, by Michael McWhertor:

The weeks long connection troubles many Xbox Live users have experienced since the holidays was due, according to Microsoft, to heavy Xbox Live server load brought on a record number of users attempting to access the service. Xbox group marketing manager Albert Penello told Kotaku that "It's wasn't a malicious thing." He explained, "We had the biggest concurrent day we've ever had on Live. We had more people than ever signing up on Live, it was 9 million, then 10 million, and it literally was that a lot more people were trying to get on, sign up and play than we had expected over Christmas."

Penello gave further explanation for the continued problems and defended the Live team.

[toughNAME]

Your off the hook TANOD

[eLiNeS]

Millions signing up, millions signing in to play some games on Xbox Live! Sounds terrible! Maybe all the nooby's should have open there gifts a few days later so they wouldn't have put a strain on the servers.

I have been on Xbox live for about 5 years now and this is the first time I have seen the servers so whacked.

I played COD4 this afternoon and then all night (just got off at 3:20am PST) and this afternoon the servers where messed up bad but was able to get some games in still, but tonight, not a single problem! That tells me there are more people playing during the day causing the server strain and less people on at night causing no strain whatsoever.

This should be an easy fix and Live should be running smooth once again very soon. I see this problem encouraging, more people are jumping in, playing some of the best AAA games any console has brought so far this gen. and that means the devs will be bring more games for the masses.

Jump in, everyone else is or the servers wouldn't be strained!!!

[shysun]

Xfire does that for free and never craps out! ;)

[mikeslemonade]

Hey elines, nice nudge at Sony. PSN will have more users as the PS3's network is free and the PS3 is currently outselling the 360 by 50,000 units week by week and that gap is getting wider and wider.

[boodybandit]

I feel so freaking lucky as a paid XBL member to not be able to use my account effectively. Maybe I should go to Vegas now. It's not even a matter of us paying money for this service or what system this is happening on. This just plain SUCKS!

I hate it when I can't get online for any reason. When it happens with one particular title you just shelf it and move on but when it happens to the entire system what are you suppose to do? I have actually unplugged my net cable so I can play without problems.

I was playing PGR4 a couple days back and after a few races I was booted out to the main menu, automatically signed back into XBL (I never signed out), went back into my campaign and lost the data for the last several races I just completed before I was randomly disconnected from XBL.

I hope MS gets this problem fixed ASAP. If it's simply a traffic issue why don't they either upgrade or add more servers? Considering this is what MS has built their entire existence around I don't understand why this isn't already repaired.

end rant

[wageslave]

No WONDER we keep seeing this Kotaku blog-posts.

Kotaku takes EVERY opportunity to backhand anything Microsoft (Xbox 360, Windows, whatever).

This:

"The weeks long connection troubles many Xbox Live users have experienced since the holidays was due"

THIS IS 100% INACCURATE. THIS IS 100% INACCURATE. THIS IS 100% INACCURATE. THIS IS 100% INACCURATE. THIS IS 100% INACCURATE.

Why the %$##% is every-single Kotaku blog-post appearing here? It is a direct violation of posting guidelines.

[BrianC6234]

If this is true maybe Microsoft should start asking people to buy a PS3 and get off Xbox Live. This sounds like an easy copout though. We just didn't expect this much traffic. Come on Microsoft, you know how much traffic you get and how many servers you need. If you made this big of a mistake you really don't know what you're doing.

[Bill Gates]

No excuse M$, shame on you for taking advantage of poor little BABOONS.....AAHHHAHHHAHA

[MailMan]

When was the last time Sony had to apologize for a PSN outage?-Never.

When was the last time gamers demanded a refund from Sony?-Never.

When was the last time Playstation Trophies were wiped from your console?-Never.

When was the last time Playstation gamers paid for their BRILLIANT Online service?-Never.

I always deliver the truth,Jump OUT and Play B3YOND

[Mr Marbles]

when was the last time Sony had 10,000,000 people on the PSN, NEVER!

IF running a world wide network that in real time tracks game stats, online matches, what your playing, what your watching, and everything you ever have, is so easy, than why the F can't Sony do it?

[mikeslemonade]

I'm playing Unreal Tournament 3 on PS3 no problem here and it's free. How do like that xbox fan? Have fun playing Joust when you get that game and accept Microsoft's apology.

[WilliamRLBaker]

When has psn ever had an outage? hmmm lets see when warhawk was released? most people couldn't get on official servers because they didn't create enough of them.

When did sony ever have to apologize? well they never do that to begin with even when they out right lie to their consumers.

When we're ur trophies wiped? really last I checked achievements have been confirmed as server side and therfor incapable of being wiped, And its been proven this was a false statement no one lost their achievements....and last I checked psn didn't have trophies yet, and im sure sony will screw that up some how like make it up to the devs to store those trophies or put them on ur ps3 thus allowing you to hack it so u can get all trophies with no work.

Brilliant online service...yet at last count sony has 8m ps3's sold and only 3 million psn users....A service that is AMAZING by your words, and IS FREEE and takes all of 2 minutes to sign up for if not less * i know cause I have 3 accounts* yet only has 3million users for 8 million systems sold...hmmmmmm.....Yet xbox live has 16m+ sold and has 10m+ xboxlive users. hmmmmm, on a service that by your words sucks and that costs money hmmm...

Wait beyond.

[Cyrus365]

A server strain that lasted a week? I can understand that issue, if it's for a day or two max but over a week.

Sounds like they don't have enough servers, I mean logic would have been alot of people are going to log on during the holidays (Especailly on the 25th), create new accounts, and trying things out.

[jackdoe]

Actually, longer than a week for some people. And this guy claims that they were understaffed, contradicting Major Nelson's statements about his people working to fix the problems.

[Mr Marbles]

actually Major said they had to track down and call people in from holiday vacation, so they were probably understaffed even after they got some folks to come in.

Personally I would not have answered the phone to come in off my Christmas break, just so I could work on a problem that a bunch of ungreatful stupid kids would bash me for either way, F that, I would have kept opening gifts with my family and said screw you losers.

[YoMeViet]

Solution: Upgrade and add more severs...

Now who's writing my check for giving them the solution to their problem...you? or YOU? or YOU!!!

[Mr Marbles]

you dont know what the F*ck your talking about so just STFU.

[joydestroy]

duh. they weren't ready for the new customers. they knew they weren't ready. a big fuuuck you, M$. glad i don't get on that much anymore.

[AzaziL]

I was really beginning to enjoy that game, but since Christmas, well I barely even play on my 360 anymore, bummer. One more week and I'm canceling my account, I pay for a service so that they can use those funds to ensure that I receive a quality product, not screw off with my money while I can't even use the damn service!

[jackdoe]

IW killed CoD 4 Multiplayer on the PS3. Servers crashed for a couple of days, back to normal now, and they still haven't released that goddamned patch. Damnit, IW best coders my ass. You know, I haven't touched multiplayer in a month. Frequent disconnects, which count as losses by the way, and spotty matchmaking was too much. IW you could have solved all of this through a fvcking beta test. But no, couldn't be bothered could you. Anyway, I know I am off topic, but CoD 4 multiplayer is just pissing me off so much.

[The_Engineer]

"jack", PS3 servers are jam packed with players as we speak, it take less than a second to find a match. ALL on a FREE service. I hope some xbots feel stupid right about now. This is just further proof that MS does NOT know what it's doing in the console business. You mean to tell me that they didn't know how many consoles they shipped? and would sell through the holidays?? They didn't even account for a 60% expansion of the network resources??

TOTAL FAWKEN NOOB time if you ask me, Ps3 COD:4 had a little downtime for a couple days but now is running like a champ. COD:4 on 360?? it's now over a week that you can't play online AT ALL, on a pay service mind you...

so let's see

FREE SERVICE = runs like a champ, problems fixed in two days tops

PAY SERVICE = down for over a week for the second time and no sign of a refund in sight.

maybe they will put barbie doll house on xboxlive arcade as "compesation" for milking people out of several million with over a week of live downtime.

[Shaka2K6]

Just admit all your products are trash microsoft.

zune = trash
xbug 3rd60 = trash
vista = trash
live = trash

[eLiNeS]

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Jump in, everyone else is or the servers wouldn't be strained!!!

[Krazy Ken Kutaragi]

All the PS3 fanboys can lick the end of my knob.

[power of Green]

More PS3 news I'm in the wrong thread judging by the comments.

[2 cents]

Live was the only thing that made by the multiplats for the x360, and not for the ps3. Now live had problems since christmas!!! What the hell MS? I`m really starting to hate the x360 with each passing day. Been through 3 RRODs, distroyed a couple of my games by scratching the disk, is loud, and with the live problems i`m regreting i ever bought 1 in the first place.
I can`t wait for the games for the ps3, than i can leave the x360 behind. It sounds like trolling but it`s the truth. We all know about the headaches owning a x360.

[turbogeek]

sorry but it's the truth!

[Chad Warden]

I just can't believe that people pay for this crap. PSN has never been down and guess what you little biitches? It's free. Not only is it free, but it never lags either. We have dedicated servers, something Xbox LAG doesn't offer. We're getting more than Xbox Live subscribers..FOR FREE and with NO LAG!

Doesn't that make you feel stupid? You paid for an unreliable Breakbox 3fixme, you paid for an unstable online service that is vastly inferior to PSN, you paid for an HD-DVD add on even though Blu-ray has now officially won the war, and you paid for the console that will end up in 3rd place.

[LinuxGuru]

Chad, I own a PS3....(CoeusTitan - PSN ID), but damn, dude....you embarrass the hell out of other PS3 owners here.

Calm down.

[joydestroy]

yeah man, calm down. Blu-ray has not OFFICIALLY won the format war, but it basically has. &you know what, i admit XBL is lagtastic, but i play online on it more than the PSN. when i finally buy Warhawk and get some friends to play in UT3 that will likely change.

fact of the matter is i own all of my multi-plat games on my 360 versus my PS3. it has a larger user base, period. hence the server issues, lol.

the PSN needs a lot of work too. for starters HOME would be great. where the hell is that at? XBL may suck ass at the moment but i can defend and justify it over the current PSN.

[richie007bond]

Twat

[Kwertie]

This is a joke. Live is down (again). If it was Nintendo I could understand it, their first shot at online and they must have sold like 3 million at Xmas. If it was Sony I could understand, they provide the service free too.

But Microsoft? You mean the same Microsoft that has been writing operating systems since 1982 or whatever? The same Microsoft that is worth absolute billions.

Are you telling me that one of the largest companies in existance, who is equally well financed, who charges for their online service did not have the insight to rig a few new servers up for the holidays, and even 3 weeks later, still have done nothing about it?

Come on, it's not like they are short of money. I know these servers cost megabux, but Microsoft can afford megabux, and then some. This is a typical case of MS dumping on it's consumers. I'm mostly a Nintendo person, but I do have a 360 as I decided I would try to be unbiased. I'm sick and tired of the hardware issues. I had 3 disc read errors last night, and there is absoultely nothing wrong with the disc, because when I exit the game and restart it, it works fine again.

Not so frequent, but I also get hard freezing sometimes.

It looks like their (paid) online service is about as reliable as their consoles.

It's an utter disgrace to think a company Microsoft's size cannot run an online gaming network. What a joke.

Also @ Chad. Breakbox is baaallin

[mattius1989]

my playing some s+d on cod4 now on my 360 and its running flawlessly :S is it a regional thing?

[boodybandit]

I am having problems with XBL and so are some of my local friends but people I know in others part of the country (U.S.) claim they are running fine and having no problems at all.

[Warbletot]

Captain: Increase power Scotty...

Scotty(in a fine Scottish accent): Captain..The Flux Capacitor canneee take noo more, she's gonna blow..

Captain: We will have to jetison the crew, do it, do it now...

Scotty: But Captain we could lose millions of crew members, can't we just complement the Flux Capacitor with our spare quantum meson amplifier, it's just here, I just have to plug it in...

Captain: No time Scotty, the crew will understand. They are always forgiving, they will take anything I throw at them. Remember the Red Ring galaxy Scotty, If they can take that, they can handle this.

Scotty: Aye, but remember the Hologramatic Density - Distributating Velocity Drive. I'm not sure they ever forgave you for that one...

Captain: Silence Scotty!

Scotty: Aye, if it wasnne for these craparse loud engines you demanded we might not need these godforsaken earplugs...

Captains log. Stardate 50045.51.12: Crew members gone. Starship in ruins. Stun gun was set to maximum when I shot Scotty, it was an accident, and I did not imagine his face would explode from point blank range. I shall continue my journey with hope of no more trouble's ahead. End Log.

[The_Engineer]

too funny lmao

red ring galaxy = priceless

[Warbletot]

The above Star Trek episode is completely fictional and any likeness to real world events and characters is purely coincidental* Disagree if you must, but c'mon at least see the funny side of it!

*Except for following references: lost members/Red Ring/HDDVD and loudness.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

"Flux Capacitor" is from Back to the Future and the rest of that is from "Star Trek" you are a freaking tool and a broken tool at that.

Hey you had better get back to your bridge before some other troll steals it :) If I were you I woudnt respond because I can pounce on you all day.

[LinuxGuru]

Wow Jason....not only are YOU a f*cking idiot, you have shown us you have nothing better to do than be a d*ckhead to people making JOKES.

Get a life.

[Warbletot]

Thanks Tetanus Shot, he is clearly upset that he can not hurl his abuse around on XBL, looks like I bore the brunt of it. Besides he wouldn't say that to my face.

[Scarfy]

Microsoft has claimed that this is due to server strain.

Let's get one thing straight - They recently said that 10 million people are subscribing to the service. At $50 per year (£40 in the UK, I think?) that's an annual income of over $50 million. That is not exactly a small sum of cash.

One has to question how they are investing this money, because it's clearly not going on improving the servers, whether it be hardware or software updates.

What'll happen next? One of two things,

1) Increase in subscription fees
2) "Sponsored" gaming (even though you're already paying for it too)

[Mr Marbles]

moron, all 10million people do not pay at the same time every year, we all got 360s at different points in time, they dont get a lump sum from everyone in January.

By the way, 50x10million is not 50million

[UltramanJ]

...on a system that charges me for online play. If the system is choking after two years of being out, how bad will things get in another 1-2 years?

[eLiNeS]

This is the first time this has happen so sux on it!!!

The servers are strained with all the new users signing up and signing on at once. They will fix the problem and it will be running circles around the PSN soon.

A bad week or two on Xbox live is better then a min on the PSN.

Jump in, everyone else is or the servers wouldn't be strained!!!

[name]

lol Didn't that picture of halo 3 have like 10 million users online and Zero matches occuring? So 10 million people were on at one time, and none of them were actually playing a game?

Are they actually using a number that was generated FROM the error to justify the error itself?

[gnothe1]

MS is saying that they have 10 million subscribers, counting by gamestags an new accounts. sony claimes what 3-4 million on its free service also countion names an accounts. not i can honestly that theres not that many users on the PSN. look how many guys got more than 1 account. hell madden raiders has 5 accounts. plus look at how many people have accounts for the US store, the Japan store an for the UK. so the PSN might not even have a full 2 million DIFFERNT customers!!

[2 cents]

Is that what you tell yourself to feel better about the problems with live?! Who gives a damn about PSN and how many use it. All i know is that i paid £40 (over $70) so i expect it to be spot on. Now i could close an eye about the laggs, but i can`t when the thing is broken altogether! PSN is free so you`re happy with what you get cos is free, but i gotta have high expectations from live cos it costs money.
Knowing that 10mill people use it doesn`t make me feel any better, and there`s just no excuse for it. It has to work. Period!

[Bladestar]

Sony wish they had this problem... and trust me it's simple math.... if they had a tremendous number of users they would... but then again PSN does not even have Ingame anything... so what kind of Server Strain can they possibly have? xbox live is always connected... allowing you to read, initiate voice communication when you are in any game or doing anything... the resources used by 10 people on xbox live probably do not translate to 1,000 PSN users...

You Sony fanboys think microsoft will not fix this and upgrade their network? what will you do when Microsoft doubles or tripples the capacity of xbox live? Obviously this was not a problem for a very long time...

This also explains why xbox live can't be free just yet.. imagine if it was? userbase can double from in 1 day. and it can take time to build a network that can handle that capacity... oh and yeah, let's not forget that xbox live is not only about playing online... there lots of suff PSN does not do.. like movies.. .does not have as many arcade games, demos, etc... I seriously like to See Sony report on the bandwidth they spend a month compare to xbox live.

[jay3]

I don't care what the reason was, it's fixed now and that's all that matters. If you're really all that mad about a week or so of not being able to play LIVE, you need to get out more.

It's what? $50 a year? It's not exactly a major problem unless you're on the verge of bankruptcy.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

People read this and see the Droid comments and then see that if online gaming is a priority in your gaming that Xbox Live is the obvious choice. I say thanks Droids because people flock to what is popular not what is 2nd or 3rd best. Everytime you guys talk smack and that talk leeds to links where people gain real knowlage and truth and that truth is never in favor of the PS3. Example: the PS3 has 7 million owners and 3 million online, that is less than 50% and it's a free service. Xbox 360 has 18 million consoles sold and 10 million online, that is over 50% and it's a $50 a year service. That speaks volumes of pure in your face truth and no amount of spin can a Droid do to hurt it.

Xbox has the number 1 online entertainment download service, where will Sony be when they "have" to jump on the online bandwagon and what will your defence be Droids? I can go right now and play COD4 while streaming music from my computer and in a privite chat with my buddy from Canada while he plays Rainbow Six and keep in constant touch with voice, text and pics and download movies, TV shows and game content in the background and send a message to all on my friends list to come meet up in Halo 3. All that at the click of a butten and never having to leave a game PERIOD <----can the PS3 do any of that? NOPE NOPE AND NOPE

In this world you get what you pay for, you can have regular TV with interuptions every 5 min so someone can sell you car insurance or you can pay to have none of that plus 200 more options that free TV can never have. PSN = CB radio, 360 = Satalite TV. What gets me is some Droids talk crap about how people cant afford a PS3 which is why they have a 360 then in the same breath they talk smack about Live because it cost. <---that is the thinking of a droid.

[GITPWNED]

Yes. Xbox Live is THAT good. PlayHouse could never have an issue like this. Why? No one wants to use that crap.

[Tempo]

Some ppl in here are hilarious, if xbox live was the steaming turd some of the posters in here claim it to be, why is it still considered to be the premier online gaming service amongst the gaming platforms,Why did it experience such an increase in the holiday season. Seriously the level of reasoning/intelligence of some on this site can't even power 10W bulb.

[Kwertie]

Movies are the cause of the problems. There was a fair amount of bandwith being used before, but now with people downloading >5GB movies, it's stupid. 100 people download a movie and bam, thats half a terabyte in bandwith gone.

[socsca]

So why is it still working like crap? Not prepared?!?! "What?! A lot of people bought 360s for christmas?" Its so stupid it hurts. Had to quit playing today because it was so fukn bad, its not even funny. And unless its some GOOD & NEW xbla game they can shove it up their incompetent asses, actually, they can shove it either way, I don't care about fukn xbla games...

[Zinger]

So you guys can pretty much count on not using Xbox live ever again with all these sales you assume that your going to get. Thats what that statement says to me.

And you guys pay for this service. Ouch!

[JosefTor]

eLines do you work for Microsoft? You seem like a PR person.

[Supermax]

metacritic.com check it out get back to me when you find a ps3 game better then a 360 game.bottom line its all about games not wich console you have.servers do get bogged down from time to time.