Xbox Live has been hit by a major outage, leaving thousands of players unable to sign-into their profiles.

DownDetector, a site that monitors outages, shows issues stuck around 2pm ET and are plaguing users in the US, the UK and parts of Europe, Asia and South America.

Users have cited problems with logging in, server connection and game play.

Social media is ablaze with reaction to the sudden crash, with one users sharing on X that they spent all eight hours working hard so they could play video games - only to find Xbox Live is down.

Xbox Support has acknowledged the outage on X, writing: 'We are aware that some users have been disconnected from Xbox Live. We're investigating!' 

DownDetector's issue reports surpassed 38,000 in the US alone, where players in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other major cities have cited problems.

While the multiplayer online gaming service is down, users can still play video games on their console. 

Xbox Live allows you to access online content and play with friends through a monthly fee.

Then there is Xbox Live Gold, which is a premium subscription that offers online matchmaking with other strangers and playing with friends.

Even though users can play games they had purchased, many are still frustrated by the issues.

Many users are calling for a refund from Microsoft, which owns Xbox, due to a loss in service.

Other have made light of the situation as one  X user posted: 'Xbox down guess I'll talk to my gf.' 

'You may not be able to sign-in to your Xbox profile, may be disconnected while signed in, or have other related problems,' Xbox's status page reads. 

'Features that require sign-in like most games, apps and social activity won't be available.' 

As January 31, 2024, Microsoft reported Xbox users was an all-time high of 200 million and Xbox Game Pass, a subscription service that gives users access to a rotating library of games, had 34 million subscribers in February.