Online game or app not working? How to tell if it is down

You launch your game and it will not connect, or it connects and lags so badly it is unplayable. Is it the game’s servers, your internet or your console? A few quick checks tell you, and save you resetting equipment that was never the problem.

Step 1: see what others are saying

Large online services usually have many players affected at once when something goes wrong. Look at our outage map and the outage history to see whether people are reporting problems with the same game or platform. Also check the official status page and social account for the game, console network or launcher, since studios often post updates there first.

Step 2: separate the platform from the game

Problems can sit at different layers:

  • The platform: your console network, PC launcher or app store. If signing in fails everywhere, this is likely.
  • The game’s own servers: matchmaking, login or the game world itself. Other games work, only this one fails.
  • A dependency: a cloud provider or content delivery network used by many services. When many unrelated apps fail together, suspect this. See why outages spread.
  • Your own connection or device.

Step 3: check your own connection

  1. Open a few ordinary websites. If they load slowly or not at all, your connection is the problem. Work through why your internet is slow.
  2. Run our game ping test and note the ping and how much it varies.
  3. Try the same game on another device or network, such as a phone hotspot, to see whether the problem follows you.

Step 4: understand lag

Lag in online games comes from three sources, which feel different:

  • High ping: a steady delay between pressing a button and seeing the result.
  • Jitter: uneven delay, which makes movement stutter or characters snap back.
  • Packet loss: pieces of data that never arrive, causing freezes and rubber-banding.

Our guide to latency, packet loss and jitter explains how to measure each one.

Step 5: quick fixes for your side

  • Use a cable instead of Wi-Fi if you can. It is the single biggest improvement for most players.
  • Pause downloads and updates on every device in the house.
  • Restart the game, the console or PC, and the router.
  • Choose a nearer server region if the game lets you.
  • Turn off the VPN or try a different server. See how VPNs can break services.
  • Check the NAT type in your console’s network settings. A strict setting can block matchmaking, and router settings can usually fix it.
  • Update the game, the launcher and the system software.

Step 6: scheduled maintenance and updates

Many games and platforms go offline at set times for maintenance, and new releases and major updates can overload logins for hours. Check the announcement channels. Waiting for a launch-day rush to calm down is often the only fix.

Signs it is the game, not you

  • Other games and websites work fine on the same network.
  • Friends on different providers have the same error at the same time.
  • The error message mentions servers, capacity or maintenance.
  • Reports are climbing on our site pages and the outage map.

Signs it is you

  • Everything online is slow or flaky, not just one game.
  • Only one device is affected.
  • Problems are worst in the evening or when others use the connection.
  • The game works on a mobile hotspot but not at home.

What to do when it is the servers

Wait. Repeatedly restarting and reconnecting adds to the load, and it can prolong the problem for everyone. Check for updates from the studio, and try again in a little while. If you want to be told the moment a service comes back, a free account here lets you monitor sites and get an email when they recover.

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Last updated 2 November 2026. Written by the siteupdown.com team. Spotted a mistake?

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