Microsoft is not saying what the cause is

Mar 10, 2015 17:45 GMT  ·  By

The team at Microsoft in charge of the Xbox Live service is announcing that at the moment the feature is having some big problems on the Xbox 360 home console and that gamers are unable to play their games with others, purchase and download content, or get access to a range of social apps.

The official site makes it clear that a lot of features of the platform are currently affected and explains that for now there's no estimate on when the team will be able to remedy all the problems.

Microsoft states, "We know you’re having a tough time matchmaking, Xbox members, and we’re working on getting things back to normal. Thanks for your patience! We’ll update you as soon as we know more."

Television and music are not affected at the moment, and it seems that the Xbox Live problems have not spread to the Xbox One version of the service until now.

Microsoft is not saying whether the issues are linked to the infrastructure that it uses to power the online gaming and the store for its older home console or if an actual DDoS attack is targeting it.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are working on long-term security for gaming

For a while now, network infrastructure has been targeted by a range of groups that believe that taking down Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network is a good way of creating a reputation for themselves.

Gaming companies have announced that they are aiming to upgrade their infrastructure and will collaborate in order to make sure that in the future the strikes do not affect players and those responsible can be brought to justice.

A long-term disruption to the Xbox Live services, especially if it spreads to the Xbox One, can have a powerful negative effect on the reputation of the gaming division of Microsoft and on its long-term sales.

The problem is compounded by the fact that, in the coming year, applications and social elements will become more important for the device as it seeks to close down the sales gap that the PlayStation 4 from Sony has managed to open up since they were both launched in November 2013.