Warzone bug won't let you play without a paid Xbox Live Gold subscription

Call of Duty character aiming down the sights of a gun
(Image credit: Activision)

Update: Raven Software has acknowledged the Warzone Xbox Live bug and is working on a fix.

“We are investigating an issue where Xbox Live Silver users are unable to play Warzone.”

Original story: A new season has dropped in the free-to-play battle royale Warzone, but some players are reporting that they can't play without an Xbox Live Gold membership.

As covered in our live blog for Warzone Season 3, Twitter users started logging the issue and were pretty ticked off about it. Not only is Call of Duty: Warzone free-to-play, but Microsoft's rolled out an Xbox Live Gold policy change to ensure f2p titles wouldn't need a paid membership for their online multiplayer.  

So the sudden requirement for a paid subscription has, rightfully, got players up in arms.      

"The new Warzone update broke my game," lamented one player, posting a screenshot showing the issue. 

"I haven’t had Xbox live gold or any subscription for months now and I’ve been able to play free to play games including Warzone. Microsoft instituted that policy last year. please fix."

A number of other users are running into the same problem, but at the time of writing, neither the devs nor the publisher has acknowledged or responded to the complaints. 

This isn't the first time this has happened; at the tail end of last year, a Warzone update rolled out that did this exact same thing. The @charlieINTEL Twitter account noted the error at the time, tweeting:

"For those Xbox players who are getting 'A network service failed' alert when trying to play Warzone, it appears the update overnight has made Xbox Live Gold a requirement to play Warzone again, even though free to play games don't need it anymore on Xbox."

It was obviously resolved, but it's not ideal to force players to deal with this again. This is one of a handful of issues that popped up when the update went live. It's frustrating that there's no official response or idea of when it'll be fixed. 

Raven Software is already dealing with a 'Corrupted Loadout Data' error that some players have bumped up against. It said it would tweet out an update when it was resolved, but there's been nothing since. Undoubtedly, this problem will be sorted out eventually, but it's got to be annoying for fans who've weathered the giant update, ranked play not working, error messages, and now this. 

Shabana Arif
News Editor, TechRadar Gaming

Shabana has been writing about games for almost a decade now, as well as covering tech, politics, food, and other random tidbits at Gizmodo UK. She's stepped outside of news every now and then to write game guides, and always appreciates a DM if she's helped get you out of a pickle. During her time freelancing, you may have spotted her words at VG24/7, GamesRadar, and IGN. She's also held the position of news editor at Gizmodo UK, T3, and The Sun Online. 

Read more
Xbox Series X D-pad
Are you an Xbox Insider? I'm here to warn you that the latest update might wipe your console
An operator fires a saw blade from a weapon
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 3 gets two-week delay, will now release in April
Pink Guards in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
You can now play red light, green light in Call of Duty thanks to new Squid Game collab
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Get an Xbox Series X or Series S and want to get online recently? Here are your options for entering the world of Xbox Game Pass
NVIDIA GeForce NOW
Have RTX 5090 and 5080 stock rumors spooked PC gamers? Nvidia GeForce Now is facing high demand, with many plans now unavailable
An angry PC Gamer sat at their desk looking unhappy
Can’t buy an Nvidia RTX 5080 or 5090 GPU due to stock shortages? If you were hoping GeForce Now might provide a good alternative, we’ve got some bad news
Latest in Xbox
Indiana Jones picks up an ancient relic in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: exhilarating old-school action
An Xbox 360 Rumble Roses XX screenshot.
My Xbox Year in Review 2024 features bangers like Microsoft Flight Simulator and Rumble Roses XX, here's how to see yours
Xbox Series X Digital Edition deal
Stop what you're doing and check out this Xbox Series X Black Friday deal – it probably won't be beaten
The three new Xbox Series console variants on a stand at Gamescom 2024
Where to buy the new Xbox Series X and S consoles - including the gorgeous Galaxy Black 2TB machine
Xbox One and controller
Xbox will 'respect the investments that people have made' and encourage backward compatibility in the future
Microsoft Corp. Xbox Design Lab controllers are displayed during E3
Xbox is already focused on ‘delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation’
Latest in News
Google Pixel 8a in aloe green showing
Google Pixel 9a benchmark link teases the performance of the upcoming mid-ranger
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Monday, March 17 (game #1148)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, March 17 (game #379)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, March 17 (game #645)
Apple iPhone 16 Pro HANDS ON
Leaked iPhone 17 dummy units may have given us our best look yet at all four models
A super close up image of the Google Gemini app in the Play Store
It's official: Google Assistant will be retired for phones this year, with Gemini taking over