Thursday, August 20th 2026
Windows 11 August Update is Breaking Games, Microsoft Investigates
According to an updated Microsoft support document, the Windows 11 August update is causing problems with games, and the company has officially confirmed that an investigation is underway. The document states that games like ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and The Finals are experiencing forced crashes, random freezing, errors, and unexpected device restarts due to the update. After receiving complaints from internal testing and gamers, gaming studios have started to acknowledge the issue and report that the Windows 11 August update is causing applications to crash. Microsoft has confirmed the problem and is actively investigating its cause.
Sources:
Microsoft, via Windows Latest
MicrosoftFollowing the release of Windows updates on August 11, 2026 (KB5121003) and later, Microsoft received reports of issues involving inability to run games as expected. This issue has been reported for a limited number of games, including ARC Raiders, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and The Finals... If you are experiencing this issue, or a similar issue, please use Feedback Hub to file a reportOfficial symptoms include:
- the game application becomes unresponsive
- the game application closes without notice
- the error "EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION" is displayed
- the device restarting without warning

69 Comments on Windows 11 August Update is Breaking Games, Microsoft Investigates
It can be from the DRM, or the fact that these three titles used UE5 in a way that does not play nice with the security changes Microsoft made.
Microsoft has confirmed the issue and is having the cause investigated using AI.This story is entirely fictional.
Yours, Jonathan Frakes.
Regards,
Fred.
Not all files were moved to my android tablet although the file copy dialog showed it completed for at least 5 minutes.
i do expect such basic stuff to work and complete.
6 minutes and various reboots for a windows update is unacceptable on a powerful machine with a samsung nvme. Why do i need to wait for a warm boot? there is no technical need for that.
My statement: This update will not see my gaming box with w11 pro. It is unstable and rubbish.
As much as I slate Windows, I'm personally not seeing it go wrong with every other update, nor are my customers regularly needing to get bailed out for update related problems, but the reporting of such problems should be generally observed as becoming more commonplace, so when they come knocking on a particular user's door, the user should be less surprised.
Things are going to continue getting worse with Windows with Microsoft's YOLO strategy with regard to quality control, until Microsoft realises that they're in danger of losing all the marbles because of their arrogance. And before anyone chimes in with Windows not being Microsoft's most profitable product: It's the linchpin to virtually their entire product line, the reason why 99% of computer users on this planet know that they exist; if the avalanche of users fleeing Windows starts, Microsoft will fade into obscurity.
I'm personally in two minds about Microsoft dying: On one hand I think arrogance needs to be punished, on the other hand I prefer a market with more choices in rather than fewer. On the other other hand, Microsoft seems intent on pulling an Apple and removing user choice wherever they can. Hmm, tricky.
Can you please don't pull the plug on Windows 10?
Is this one of those cases where it's going to get worse before it gets better?? ;)
Microsoft has released initial information regarding this issue.Regards,
Fred.
working fine
so ms has scared everyone with secuirity updates , now they do shitty updates on most used os :shadedshu:
Windows 10 Pro - 64-Bit Edition (Back to Win 10 because 11 is garbage.)