Troubleshoot Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer issues

If you're having problems with multiplayer gaming or matchmaking in Halo 5: Guardians, here are some areas that you can check to see what the problem may be.

Depending on the issue, the following game play features may be affected:

• REQ Pack or card inventory is unavailable.
• REQ Packs can't be purchased from the store or in-game.
• Newly purchased REQ Packs are not visible in-game.
• REQ Cards are unavailable to be used during Warzone.
• REQ Packs are not awarded after completing games during multiplayer or campaign.
• Credits can't be used for purchases.

You may see one of the following messages when you're trying to join or set up a multiplayer session.

• Attention. Could not find a server that was suitable for all members of your fireteam.

  This error means that no dedicated servers could be found that meet the network requirements of your entire fireteam. This may occur if you play with geographically dispersed friends. If you encounter this error while playing with friends in the same region, restart the game and try again.

• Unable to Match. There may not be enough players to support a game in this playlist. Please try a different playlist.

  This error occurs if there aren't enough players suitably close to your skill rank to start a match. You can research the playlist or select a new playlist to search.

• Attention. At least one player in your fireteam is banned from playing Halo 5: Guardians.

  This error occurs if one or more players in your fireteam (including yourself) is currently banned from playing Halo 5: Guardians. Players can receive bans automatically by leaving games in-progress, killing allied players, and more. Players with bans should wait and retry at a later time when their ban has been cleared.

  If you have been banned by 343 Industries, you'll see a message when you launch Halo 5: Guardians indicating that there is an enforcement in place. You can also check if there are any Xbox enforcements against your account by signing in at the Xbox Policy & Enforcement site.

• Attention. Your fireteam is too large for the selected activity. Manage your fireteam in the Roster and try again.

  This error occurs when the fireteam has too many members for the selected activity. For example, fireteams of more than four players can't participate in some Arena hoppers, as the maximum team size for some modes is four. Groups can proceed into the activity by reducing the number of players to meet the maximum.

• We've encountered a problem and couldn't join you to the game. Please try again.

  This error occurs if your session encountered an unexpected issue with the dedicated server. You should retry matchmaking and join another server. If you continue to see this error, there may be a service outage – check the suggestions in the following "Solutions" section to see if this is the case.

• An update is available for Halo 5: Guardians. Please restart the game to install this update.

  This means that a mandatory update is available for the game, and the latest version is required for you to continue. Close and restart the game to trigger an update (you'll need to be connected to Xbox Live to download any available updates).

You can check if there is an Xbox Live outage, a 343 Industries/Halo outage, a problem with your console's online connection, or a ban in place.

Step 1: Check for Xbox Live outage

If you see any alerts here, wait until the service is up and running and try again:

Step 2: Check for Halo service outage

When you launch Halo 5: Guardians, you can check the "Message of the Day" for any known service interruptions for Halo. They would be displayed when you launch the game and sign in to Xbox Live. Such notices would also be posted under Community on the main menu.

You can also visit the Halo Waypoint forums and look for Halo 5: Guardians under Games to see if another players are reporting similar problems.

Step 3: Check your console connection

See Network settings on Xbox One for help troubleshooting connection problems between your console and the online network services.

Step 4: Check if you've been banned

Sign in at the Xbox Policy & Enforcement site to check if there are any enforcements in place on your account.