Xbox online services experience outages, preventing players from accessing digital games.

Déjà vu: Following last week’s PlayStation Network outage that left some players unable to access their digitally purchased games, Xbox users are now facing similar issues with online services.

The Xbox status page currently indicates a “major outage” affecting the “account & profile,” “store & subscriptions,” “games & gaming,” and “apps & mobile” sections. Users may find themselves disconnected while signed in or encountering other related issues. Features that require sign-in, such as most games, apps, and social interactions, are currently unavailable. Additionally, the store may be missing certain titles, and launching other services could be problematic.

The most concerning aspect is that players might struggle to access digital, disc-based, and backward-compatible games at this time. Microsoft reported these outages starting at 11 p.m. EST on Sunday. While the company has identified the issue, a resolution is still in progress.

This outage comes at a particularly sensitive moment regarding game ownership. Earlier this month, a major company announced it would cease production of physical game discs, raising fears that we are edging closer to a fully digital gaming landscape.

Data indicates that a significant majority of gamers now purchase titles digitally, but the catch is that these players don’t truly own their games; they are essentially buying a license to access them. Following the announcement, there has been a surge of criticism from fans, leading to heated discussions, calls for boycotts, and increased interest in emulation and piracy.

When a rights holder removes a digital game or movie, those who purchased it lose access. Recently, a major company removed over 500 movies from users’ accounts due to a lapsed contract with a film publisher. If the digital storefront for an older console is permanently shut down, players lose the ability to download the games they bought for that system. The recent outages with PSN and Xbox Live highlight that even digital games not reliant on online multiplayer can be impacted when these services are down.

While there’s been no confirmation regarding whether the next console will feature a disc drive, the company appears to be considering whether to follow the same path as others, potentially offering digital licenses for players to access their older physical games.