Amazon Web Services (AWS) has rejected claims that its servers experienced a major outage during the intervening night of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Several media reports and outage-tracking platforms had suggested widespread disruption, with users across the United States reporting difficulties accessing multiple online services.
According to Downdetector, more than 4,000 users reported issues around 9:30 PM EST on Wednesday. Popular platforms, including Fortnite, Steam, Arc Raiders and the Epic Games Store, were among those flagged as being affected, fuelling speculation of a broader AWS failure.
AWS responds to the outage claims
In response to the reports, AWS categorically denied any disruption to its infrastructure. Posting on X, the company’s official AWS Newsroom account stated: “No, that's false. AWS services are operating normally today, but an event elsewhere on the internet has prompted some inaccurate speculation on social media.”
The company further clarified that the only reliable source for checking the operational status of its services is the official AWS Health Dashboard.
Confusion triggered by third-party issues?
While AWS did not specify what caused the confusion, such incidents often occur when third-party services or regional network providers face technical issues that indirectly affect user access. These disruptions can give the impression of a wider cloud outage, even when core infrastructure remains stable.
Several social media reports claimed that many services are down due to issues with AWS disruption earlier today. “AWS is currently having a major outage, possibly the third largest ever. Many services are being affected by it; Arc Raiders, Fortnite, Steam, Rocket League, Epic Games, Embark Studios, PlayStation Network, etc,” tweeted an X account by the handle of @@SpecialSitsNews.
Users urged to rely on official channels
AWS advised users and organisations to rely on its official status page for accurate and real-time information, warning against misinformation spreading through social media during high-traffic periods such as holidays.
Similarly, the popular video game distribution platform Steam experienced a global outage affecting hundreds of thousands of users on Christmas Eve, with disruptions lasting over an hour.
Initial reports of the service going offline emerged around 2:00 PM ET, with a brief restoration occurring by approximately 2:30 PM. However, the fix was temporary, and users continued to face connectivity issues.
By midnight EST, the number of user complaints on Downdetector began to drop significantly, falling from around 10,000 to roughly 2,000. This decline indicated that Steam services were gradually coming back online. Additionally, updates from unofficial Steam status trackers confirmed that many of the platform’s functions had been restored.
