It looks like the Xbox One's launch may very well not end up being the smooth affair Microsoft would want it to be, especially since it's happening so close to the launch window of its main competitor, the PS4. Rumours that are being cited by their sources as pretty concrete, are suggesting that Xbox Live for the One, and its operating system, have some serious problems.

These ones come from the mouth of Pete Dodd, semi-regular console information leaker and podcaster, who is now claiming that the Xbox One is currently experiencing serious problems with its operating system and online connectivity. It's mostly little things, but they stack up: Friend requests sometimes don't work, invites don't get sent through, players dropping out of VOIP calls between games and more.

Dodd quotes one developer he spoke to on his blog, who explains the reason we didn't have these problems on the 360 but we do on the One: “On 360, the OS handles all of the party and chat functionality. All you do is hook up the XBL VOiP OS API into your game, and it does most of the work for you. What it results in is a shared experience across multiple entertainment. If you’re watching movies or playing games, you can do it together. However, this system is entirely different on Xbox One. So, lets say me, you, and Thuway have xbox one’s that are online. We are signed in our profiles. Sitting at the home screen, we are considered to be in a “Xbox Party” on the server. There are no more ‘party leaders’. With that said if any one of us decide to start a game, the party is shifted over to that game’s party system. Each game now has their custom written VOIP.”

It's the transition between different API's that's causing the issue, and while Microsoft is feverishly trying to fix it, at the moment it hasn't come up with a solution.

Ruh roh Raggy!

Another developer backed up these claims, saying that it took months to get online gameplay working at all and even at the end of September it wasn't quite right. He went on to say that even if Microsoft has found a solution, he doubts it will be a flawless experience in the early days of the Xbox One's release.

KitGuru Says: The fact that several developers are predicting that these problems could persist for several months after launch, could be a big problem for Microsoft. It could severely hamper early sales of the One beyond launch day. 

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