Xbox Live is currently offline for an unconfirmed number of userss, with gamers left anxiously twiddling their thumbs and awaiting word from Microsoft on when the service will return.
The Xbox website confirms the dodgy status, stating that gamers may experience trouble with "signing into Xbox Live from an Xbox console" and "signing into Xbox Live from Xbox.com". The downtime is also affecting the Zune service.
The service appears to have been offline for over an hour. The Xbox support Twitter account says, "We are aware of the issues some users are having with Xbox Live," going on to say that it is "actively investigating" the borked gaming service. Since then it's been directing concerned tweeters towards the status page mentioned above.
There's no word on how long the difficulties will last, but I'd wager Microsoft is trying to fix its online platform as quickly as possible, before gamers get bored and blow the dust off their Wii consoles, or wander outside in search of more traditional pursuits like stick and hoop or diabolo.
While there's no indication that the service will be offline for a significant length of time, the outage will call to mind the catastrophic PSN hack that saw Sony fans without online gaming for nearly a month, while the Japanese company dealt with 77 million users' accounts being hacked.
Are you able to access Xbox Live? Let me know if you can get online in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.

Comments 48
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anonymous 6 July, 2012 17:31
I am online and fine nothing much happening except a few lag spikes
anonymous 6 July, 2012 17:41
Now what am I going to do with my friday night? Go out and meet people in some social setting? Screw that. Come on Microsoft sort it out.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 17:52
Freaking microsoft -_-
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:05
Not been able to get online for well over an hour which now makes sense if this is true but the service indicator on the live website is PATHETIC - it should be made much more obvious to users that there is an issue rather than sticking a tiny little icon in the top of the screen. Sort it Microsoft - you're quick enough to take people's hard earned for this so called 'service'.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:12
was it really necessary to mention the hack lol.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:12
cant gee on for 2 hours now bull sh**t paying for whot wee dont have joke ps3 pluged in f**ck microsoft its a joke
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:15
big difference in this and the psn service though is that xbox live is not free. Could imagine a lot of refund requests should this last a month!
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:16
Not been able to get on for the past 45 minutes did the whole stupid test XBOX Live Connection everything was fine just telling me to go to xbox.com/servicealerts and saw that it was down, but some of my friends are able to get it. This is ridiculous.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:16
Sort it out. PSN Maybe?
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:18
OMG... Is this going to be like Sony's network going down? It looks like Xbox live may have been hacked... In my opinion, this may take a while if it's anything like Sony. Now what will I do all summer without my Xbox live?
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:19
whoa.............its raining out ...................never noticed that b4
Andrew Bedford 6 July, 2012 18:22
My son cannot log in to his account via his xbox but he can on his mobile phone. Yet I can log on to mine on his xbox!! strange. Would be useful is the status page gave more information. Not all bad news as my son is currently logged in as me and earning me valuable gamer points ;-)
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:22
dammmmm im a frickin hard gamer and this is fuckin bullshit how long will this last
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:25
Cant even sign in to play solo.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:26
My account is down, but in the next room my roommate is online right now, i dont understand this. I've seen two or three comments on other sites with people saying the same thing. that's really weird to me.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:26
Is this just affecting UK gamers?
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:28
no it's affecting people in the united states too
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:37
Xbox Live deleted my account and now I can't download it back! Was it hacked? O.o
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:38
This has all the hallmarks of Anonymous.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:40
just got xbox a week ago and what a good impression its made of its self lol going back ps3 i feel sorry for ditching it
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:42
My friends are all on and able to connect and now why can't I this is dumb. My connection is fine tested it and everything stupid service crap alert and stupid Xbox.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:46
I just resently got my Xbox back from repair. Now this, please hurry and fix the issue please.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:46
working fine for me.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:49
Me and my little brother , we each own a different xbox in the same house , using the same internet , he can get on XBL and I can't whhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :( FIX THIS !
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:56
Where are the people who r logged in ???
anonymous 6 July, 2012 18:56
that stupid service alert is pointless it doesnt tell you anything after i checked my connection it was fine but i still couldnt sign in so then said download your profile and now my profile isnt on my xbox anymore.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 19:02
Just signed into Xbox live silver with my old account on the same console, same network. If my profile has been hacked I won't be happy Microsoft.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 19:10
Some of the comments posted here are ridiculous, "cant gee on for 2 hours now bull sh**t paying for whot wee dont have joke ps3 pluged in f**ck microsoft its a joke" - Fu*king man up! Its unfortunate that this has happened certainly but lets face it, Sh1t happens!
Fingers crossed well be back online later tonight, until then play a bit of campaign or venture outside for a stroll.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 19:11
Back n in uk Leeds
anonymous 6 July, 2012 19:12
back up for me
anonymous 6 July, 2012 19:13
my old account works on this console but nmy current one doesnt wtf
anonymous 6 July, 2012 19:14
People are complaining about a service that rarely has problems? Seriously!!! Grow up and realize that technology is sometimes fickle.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 19:16
it working in leeds england
anonymous 6 July, 2012 19:23
I'm able to get on now. I turned my xbox off then on and it allowed me to sign in.
billfred 6 July, 2012 19:39
eh? Seems fine to me.
anonymous 6 July, 2012 19:51
Guys, there is this thing called "Socializing" that I'm not too familiar with. BUT I CAN STILL LOGIN HAHA NEWBZ :3
anonymous 6 July, 2012 20:27
HAHA Just when all you Microsoft ones where taking the nick about PS3 going down, it happens to you. HAHAHAHA
anonymous 6 July, 2012 21:46
And the gamers rejoice. They can kill there friends again!
anonymous 6 July, 2012 22:25
mine was out AM EST. but was QUICKLY BACKUP..THANKS MR. GATES :-)
anonymous 6 July, 2012 23:40
Ermm Cnet.....its already reported as back up - so stop your Microsoft bashing and say sorry.
anonymous 7 July, 2012 11:09
Are Luznet up to their old tricks. Lets hope not ! gametrender.net
anonymous 8 July, 2012 05:58
i like vuhgina
anonymous 8 July, 2012 08:09
lol guy who said about us laughing at ps3 going down, thats cos it got hacked with shitty security..... live went down because something went wrong, it happens. this was a inconvenience, ps3 getting hacked was a total fail
anonymous 4 September, 2012 13:00
Any1 eles having problems loging into xbox live?
anonymous 4 September, 2012 14:26
i cant log on to xbox live ether i hope they get it back up soon!!
anonymous 4 October, 2012 18:28
Unable to gain access to Xbox Live... Is this a common occurrence as most posts are from July and looks like the same fault.
anonymous 25 October, 2012 00:43
grandson lost his profile , cant get on-line, saved stuff gone...pls help........
anonymous 6 January, 2013 01:58
cnt get on xbox live with my new xbox slim but my brother right next to me with the same xbox disconect from xbox live and reconnects and he cnt get on ither but when he shuts his xbox off then bk on he is back on but i cnt?