Millions of gamers around the world hit a frustrating snag during the holiday period as a major Amazon Web Services (AWS) disruption affected key online games and platforms.
Players reported widespread problems logging into games, joining matches, and accessing online features. The outage coincided with a surge in holiday gaming activity, making the disruption especially noticeable and disruptive for communities relying on continuous play.
What Happened: AWS Cloud Problems Impact Connectivity?
Reports on the outage-tracking site Downdetector showed that users began experiencing problems with backend services linked to AWS late Wednesday. Titles dependent on AWS infrastructure, including Fortnite, Rocket League, and ARC Raiders, faced login and server errors.
Gamers took to social media to complain about authentication failures, endless loading screens, and broken matchmaking systems. Similar symptoms appeared on platforms such as the Epic Games Store, Steam and PlayStation Network, where players struggled to connect.
AWS powers key online functions like player authentication, matchmaking and cloud services, so when those systems falter, affected games show wide-ranging disruptions.
AWS Cloud Problems: Major Games & Platforms Affected
Among the most affected services were:
- Fortnite: Players faced login failures and server timeouts.
- Rocket League: Users could not join matches or sync inventory.
- ARC Raiders: Network timeout errors prevented access for many.
- Epic Games Store: Backend issues affected the launcher and game access.
- Steam: Some users reported an inability to access online features.
- PlayStation Network (PSN): Partial outages hampered cross-platform games.
The outage also affected related services that rely on shared cloud infrastructure, amplifying the impact across titles and platforms.
Why does an AWS Issue Hit so Many Games?
Modern online games are not standalone islands. They use cloud platforms like AWS for login systems, player data and matchmaking. When these shared services falter, symptoms spread across multiple games at once, even if the titles themselves are from different developers.
This cloud dependence means a single problem in a major provider like AWS can ripple through the gaming ecosystem and beyond, affecting authentication, matchmaking, inventory systems and even store functionalities on platforms like Steam and PSN.
AWS Response and Confusion Around the Cause
At the time of reporting, AWS had not confirmed an official outage on the record via its service health dashboard, leading to conflicting claims about the cause. Some observers noted that regional network issues or internet service infrastructure problems — not AWS core failure — might produce similar symptoms.
AWS urged users to check its official status page for accurate information, cautioning against speculation based on social media posts.
Holiday Traffic and Cloud Vulnerability
Industry experts point out that peak usage periods like Christmas can expose weaknesses in centralized cloud infrastructure. Heavy player traffic can overload services, pushing systems to their limits. When many games share common backend services, even short disruptions can cascade quickly.
This incident highlights the inherent risk of centralized server dependency when millions of users go online simultaneously. As gaming communities grow and cloud reliance deepens, developers may need stronger redundancy and multi-region failover support to protect against widespread access issues.
What Gamers Should Do Now?
Games dependent on cloud infrastructure must wait for services to be restored. Experts recommend that players:
- Check official status pages (e.g., AWS Health, Epic Status, Steam status).
- Monitor social media updates from developers.
- Avoid repeated login attempts during peak downtime to reduce server load.
