“Unraveling the Xbox Cloud Chaos: The Mystery Behind Your Never-Ending Queue”

The Xbox Cloud Gaming service has been non-operational since Thursday, according to the official Xbox Support Twitter handle. It seems the service, which allows users to play Xbox games on mobile phones, tablets, and other gadgets, is gradually returning, but it’s not fully functional yet. 

On Thursday, the Xbox Support account tweeted that they were aware of launching issues with Cloud Gaming titles. The Xbox Status page indicated the problem commenced at 1:42 p.m. ET/10:42 a.m. PT and efforts are ongoing, with the resolution status currently listed as “pending.” Additionally, the Xbox Support account tweeted on Friday morning stating that players attempting to start a game may encounter prolonged queue times, though it shouldn’t take as long as indicated. 

“Players may experience an inaccurately high wait time when trying to launch a cloud gaming title,” the account noted. “Our teams anticipate that users will be able to connect more quickly than the prolonged time displayed.”

When attempting to launch a game — for instance, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 — the queue page is displayed. In one instance, it indicated a wait time exceeding 3 hours. Typically, there’s minimal to no queue. When a queue does exist, it generally lasts just a few minutes. 

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A discussion on r/xcloud, the subreddit dedicated to Xbox Cloud Gaming, revealed that users were unable to engage in games on the platform across their Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and other devices. The issue appears to be widespread, with individuals in Germany, Costa Rica, and Brazil reporting their inability to access the service.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is part of an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. It’s uncertain whether the surge of new Xbox owners from Christmas might have contributed to the complication. A decade ago, both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network experienced outages during Christmas, which were attributed to a cyberattack by a hacker group.