Christmas Eve turned frustrating for thousands of gamers in India and worldwide as popular online titles ARC Raiders and Fortnite suffered a major server outage. Players were greeted with the ART00004 Network Timeout error, preventing access to game servers and spoiling holiday gaming plans.
Widespread Disruption on a Festive Night
The problems began on December 24, 2025, affecting gamers across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox platforms. The error message clearly indicated a server-side issue, stating: “Retrieving data from backend services timed out – please try again later.” This pointed to overloaded backend servers, often linked to Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure, which many online games rely on.
According to outage tracking website Downdetector, the scale was significant. Over 35,000 user reports from the United States alone flagged issues with ARC Raiders. The Epic Games storefront and Steam platform also experienced related downtime, compounding the problem for the gaming community. As of the reporting time, Embark Studios, the developer behind ARC Raiders, had not issued an official statement on the Christmas Eve disruption.
How to Troubleshoot the ART00004 Network Error
While the ART00004 error originates from game servers, players can attempt several local fixes to improve their connection and rule out client-side problems.
First, always check the real-time server status. Reliable sources include Downdetector and the official ARC Raiders communication channels on Discord or X (formerly Twitter) @ARCRaidersGame. If a widespread outage is confirmed, the only solution is to wait for the developers to resolve it.
If the issue is not universal, try these steps:
- Restart Everything: Completely close the game and its launcher (Steam or Epic Games). Relaunch them to refresh the connection.
- Power-Cycle Your Network: Unplug your router and modem for 30 to 60 seconds. This clears temporary cache and can resolve local network glitches.
- Verify Game Files on PC: For Steam users, right-click ARC Raiders in your library. Go to Properties > Installed Files and click Verify Integrity of Game Files. This repairs any corrupted data.
- Optimise Your Connection: Switch from Wi-Fi to a wired Ethernet connection for stability. Also, disable any VPN service, as it can interfere with server authentication.
The Bigger Picture: Cloud Reliability and Gaming
This incident highlights the vulnerability of online gaming ecosystems to backend service failures, especially during peak holiday periods when player numbers surge. The suspected link to AWS services underscores how reliant modern gaming has become on cloud infrastructure. For Indian gamers, who form a massive and growing segment, such outages disrupt not just entertainment but also social connections and in-game events tied to festive seasons.
As online gaming continues to grow in India, the expectation for robust and reliable server support from developers and their cloud service partners will only intensify. This Christmas outage serves as a reminder that in the always-online gaming world, the wait for a fix is often the only option when major servers go down.
