Xbox tech boss says 'unacceptable' outage should not have affected disc games

Xbox's technology chief Scott Van Vliet has stated that an unacceptable outage on Monday, lasting around 20 hours, should not have stopped people from playing their games on physical discs. The issue was caused by a licensing problem that failed to properly verify if a user was permitted to play a game. This incident has exacerbated concerns about gaming's potential digital future after rival PlayStation experienced its own outage on Friday.

Xbox's Van Vliet emphasized that disc-based entitlement checks should not prevent players from accessing their games, a stance he described as being by design. He also mentioned that a fix to prevent future occurrences would be implemented in an upcoming update. Some netizens have expressed worry that if consoles become digital-only, issues like these could lock players out of their games.

This follows a similar PlayStation Network outage in July, sparking unease about a "digital-only future" in gaming and questions about game ownership and licensing. The shift towards digital distribution has been evident in recent years, with publishers like Rockstar and Nintendo favoring digital delivery over physical discs. Sony has also announced plans to discontinue disc-based PlayStation game releases starting January 2028, a move that has drawn criticism from consumer rights advocates.

The concern is that the industry's track record of disabling games once they end support raises questions about customer trust and the future of physical gaming.