Popular voice chat service Discord went completely offline for several hours due to ‘API outage’
Discord, the leading voice chat service used by video gamers around the world, suffered a widespread outage on Wednesday, affecting millions of users for over an hour. Only half the user base has been able to return to the service by 1 pm Pacific time [21:00 GMT].
“We are currently investigating a widespread API outage and are working to resolve this ASAP [as soon as possible],” Discord announced shortly before noon Pacific on Wednesday, as the outage site DownDetector showed a massive spike in reports.
The underlying issue was identified within 15 minutes, but resolving it has taken longer. The problem was compounded by “a secondary issue on one of our database clusters,” Discord said. The company responded by limiting the number of log-ins allowed as they worked to restore functionality.
By 12:30 PST, the database was declared “healthy again” and the login limit was increased.
Deprived of their favorite communication medium, Discord users flocked to Twitter, flooding it with memes while speculating about the real reason behind the outage.
I think I can explain why Discord is currently down… pic.twitter.com/ZP1kWyaUtT
— My Little Pony Without Context (@ContextlessMLP) January 26, 2022