The recent Xbox network outage, which lasted for around 16 hours, may have disrupted Microsoft’s license verification system so severely that it reportedly allowed some players to launch games they had never purchased.
The claim comes from eXtas1s, who shared images and footage apparently showing affected Xbox consoles installing and running unowned titles. Examples include Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Left 4 Dead, Peter Jackson’s King Kong, and even Silent Hill f. One video appears to show Silent Hill f launching while its Microsoft Store page continues to display a purchase option. Other images show delisted Xbox 360 games downloading or reaching their main menus.
However, the ownership status of the accounts featured in the footage cannot be independently verified.
How the Glitch Worked
The Xbox mobile application normally allows users to remotely install compatible games without owning them. A valid digital license, subscription, or physical disc should still be required when attempting to launch the installed software. The reported glitch therefore appears to concern license authentication rather than downloading itself.
Some reports suggest the exploit may be exclusive to discontinued Xbox 360 games running on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles. Online communities have reportedly begun compiling lists of vulnerable games.
The Bigger Picture: A Licensing Failure
The reports emerged during a prolonged Xbox network outage affecting accounts, game libraries, applications, and the digital store. Players also experienced error 0x87e107df, which indicates that Xbox could not verify a game’s license. Some users were temporarily unable to launch even their legitimately owned digital and physical games.
Xbox Chief Technology Officer Scott Van Vliet later explained that the disruption stemmed from a licensing service that sits outside Xbox, but is critical to the platform’s entitlement system. “When the service began failing overnight,” he said, some sign-in scenarios stopped working while entitlement checks also failed, preventing players from accessing features such as their Full Library and launching games they already owned.
Van Vliet called the situation “unacceptable” and promised a full post-incident review to understand “why a failure in one service was able to take down this much, why recovery took as long as it did, and what we change so a single point of failure can’t ruin your night again”.
The Ironic Twist
For nearly a full day, the same broken licensing system that locked paying customers out of their own games inadvertently opened a backdoor for others to play titles they never bought. It’s a glitch that underscores a uncomfortable truth about the all-digital future: when authentication fails, nobody plays — except, apparently, those who exploit the chaos.
