Microsoft Azure users may face difficulties accessing Office 365, Minecraft, and other services as the tech giant encounters issues with its cloud service, as announced on Wednesday. A note on the Azure status page confirmed ongoing investigations into problems with the Azure Front Door service, with expectations of “initial signs of recovery” soon. While Microsoft did not provide an immediate comment, the company acknowledged the situation on its webpage and social media platforms.
The impact of this outage is significant due to the widespread usage of Microsoft’s cloud service by numerous websites and services. Users reported encountering problems with various platforms such as Office 365, Minecraft, X-Box Live, Costco, Starbucks’ mobile apps and websites, Copilot, and more on Downdetector, a platform monitoring online outages. These troubles with Microsoft Azure follow closely after a recent major outage of Amazon’s cloud computing service, affecting a broad range of online services, including social media, gaming, food delivery, streaming, and financial platforms.
The disruptions began just ahead of Microsoft’s scheduled quarterly earnings report. Amazon leads in cloud computing services, with Microsoft holding the second position, surpassing Google in most markets.