Microsoft addressing 'technical glitch' affecting Xbox storefront

Over a thousand titles -- chiefly independent games -- have vanished from the Xbox Live marketplace this morning. A Microsoft spokesperson has responded to queries confirming the problem as a technical error and a fix is now underway. The missing titles were first spotted by a number of indie developers including Milkstone Studios, which noticed several of its Xbox Live Indie Games titles had vanished from the storefront. "We're missing 16 of our 25 games," the developer tweeted. More games continued to vanish "by the minute," with the number of games on the XBLIG storefront dropping from 2,100 to just 949. Larger titles from the Xbox Live Arcade section of the storefront, such as Castle Crashers and Battleblock Theater, have also been reported as missing. "We're aware there is an issue affecting the Xbox Games Store that has temporarily removed some content including Xbox Live Arcade and Xbox Live Indie Games titles," said a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement. "This is a technical glitch and we're working to fix the issue as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience." Gamasutra has been able to confirm the bug as affecting both console and online storefront. Some DLC packs and Smartglass apps for missing games have remained available in the store, although availability seems inconsistent -- for instance, Castle Crashers's Necromancer and King add-ons remain present, but the Pink Knight and other packages seem to have been removed along with the core game.