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i can play my 30 year old link to the past cartridge.
It's outrageous that we came to this.
Everything else does not matter: if it's not a game that requires internet connection for a good reason (micro transactions and license check are NOT good reasons, it's a game), then the game should not require internet connection.
Additionally, for multi-player games, if they have a single player mode, same thing! I already cannot play multi-player, I don't have a working internet connection!
It's sad that enough people keep buying shit for these companies to keep getting away with this.
hmm... How can an outage affect physical media?
I booted up my Xbox One and put in Mass Effect Andromeda. It has not been previously installed or patched. Curious what will happen.
EDIT:
tl;dr: I tested Xbox One and Series X. Xbox One continued to play my media, while Series X required I log in to select my profile in the game. Also, the capture software of the Series X required I log in to gather my screenshots.
I do not know if the Xbox One just had a cached session of my profile that the Series X did not, or if they authenticate differently. But regardless, I was unable to play Mass Effect Andromeda on Series X while this outage is ongoing.
Depends on a couple factors:
- Will the game play without a firmware update?
- Will the game play without a game update? (deliberate gate, or by presence of game-breaking bugs)
- Even if previously updated, does the game arbitrarily enforce a persistent connection?
The first one is usually the catch. On Xbox, you have to download the firmware update, it's not on disc like Nintendo and PlayStation. If you haven't updated your system in a while, you usually can't play newer games. (MS has/had a workaround for this, where you could download firmware from their website and install it via flashdrive. It's something, but still weak for needing Internet.)
Needing a game update happens semi-commonly too, but it's certainly the exception. Something like 80+% of games probably play fine without one, even on Xbox.
Single player games forcing you online all the time is pretty rare, but happens. Some especially spiteful, incompetent, or cloud-brained pubs will do it from time to time.
Hmm, I do not have an unpatched console to check and see if a firmware update is what is blocking gamers right this moment. But if that's the case, I would think just disabling internet would let you continue playing?
EDIT: I think the confusion is the title saying "any digital or physical media". I do know of games that require persistent internet and release with Day 1 patches. But this implies that putting a disc in right now just doesn't work.
Unplugging the network probably would not help, if you have a disc that needs a newer firmware than what's installed.
I don't connect my consoles online unless I get forced to, and I've run across it a couple times on Xbox One. Never bought into the Series line tho, so can't say if it's different these days.
And yeah, as far as current issue, I'd expect the headline is probably exaggerating.
turns out that my Series X was unpatched!
....aaaaaand the firmware is downloading just fine. Yeah, I don't know why they put physical media in this title.
I appreciate your empirical approach!
Easy to see how folks jump from XBL is down to assuming content servers are down. But from your spot checks, sounds like it's spotty reporting, to an extent.
What was the login screen you hit all about?
Still testing a new game, but it seems like profile management in Mass Effect Andromeda on Xbox Series X is performed by the Xbox operating system, not the game. So while I can get into the dashboard in a pseudo-"offline" mode, once the game starts up and I assume uses the Xbox API to load a profile and saves... Series X throws the Xbox Live login screen because I'm internet enabled but not authenticated. Nothing I did could bypass this login screen. I couldn't even create a guest profile at that point.
This is only a guess based on taking the network offline, of course. Once I removed internet access, I assume the Xbox OS returned a fully offline profile for Mass Effect to use.
Can confirm that Xbox Live is down. Disc install says it will complete in 31 minutes.
Still unable to log in, but the game installed... even patched (so content servers seem online)
Seems like everything is functioning to me.
I thought maybe the disconnect of the authentication servers would have blocked the content servers and thus caused physical media to be blocked but no... I'm not having any issues playing right now.
To further this study I'm going to yank the CAT5e cable and delete the install. See if anything happens if I install without the network patch functionality.
Network patch is nonfunctional with the ethernet cable pulled. Obviously. Same 30 minute install.
I suspect no change, so after I verify I'm going to dig out the Series X to see if that's different somehow.
No difference, game plays fine... switching to Series X
Series X firmware update worked. Xbox Live login failed. Still let me into the dashboard. Still let me install Mass Effect from disc. Still patched the game. Still plays just fine.
This outage does not affect physical media any more than unplugging your internet would. If the game runs without internet, the game runs during this outage.
uggg... we get enough heinous garbage from game companies without this false flag crap from news media.
and I hit submit 59 seconds too fast. Guess what happens when I hit A to continue:
A login screen!
EDIT: BONUS ROUND
I cannot capture a screenshot of the game asking for a login, as the capture application requires I log in to Xbox Live.
Interesting note: I took the Series X offline and suddenly Mass Effect let me continue! So there must be a check that online services are available, but a failure to authenticate was returned.
I'm going to test another game to see if the same thing happens. Dead or Alive 6 is not installed, is very DLC heavy, and even includes a F2P core version. Let's see what happens...
Confirmed: Dead or Alive 6 was able to install, fully patch, install all single player unlock keys, launches to start screen... but does not allow me to start a session. Same stuck login screen previously shown by Mass Effect Andromeda.
I yanked the CAT5e, and suddenly I'm playing DOA6.
My apologies news media. This is certainly looking like an outage that prevents any physical media from working... without workarounds.
If anyone has any (reasonable) additional tests you think I should try. Let me know.
this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2026
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