"As of today, my wishlist on my Xbox account has been completely deleted. Gone." Xbox users lose years of wishlist data, is it a bug or is it a feature? [Update]

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Xbox players have found their wishlists wiped across consoles, PC and the Microsoft Store

Confused John Travolta looks for his wishlisted games
(Image credit: Xbox / Miramax)

Update, Feb. 26, 2024: Xbox engineering lead Eden Marie confirms that the issue should be fixed as of Monday.

Update, Feb. 28, 2024: Users are reporting that if they added games to their wishlist over the weekend, only the replacement wishlisted games have been recovered. If this has affected you Xbox Support have asked that you file a bug report.

What you need to know

  • Xbox users are reporting that their entire wishlists are being wiped of games they have added, and isn't saving new games either.
  • This issue appears to be affecting both consoles and the Xbox store website.
  • It is not yet clear if this is a bug or intentional, we have reached out to Microsoft for comment.
  • UPDATE: The bug has been corrected but users who have only had partial lists recovered from activity over the weekend are encouraged to submit a bug report, please use the instructions below.

UPDATE FEB. 28, 2024

Update: Per Xbox engineering lead Eden Marie on Twitter, Xbox users should have  started to see their wishlists returning Monday. While most users have had their wishlists recovered, those who interacted with their list over the weekend while the bug was in force may still be having problems.

According to Eden Marie, if your recovered wishlist only consists of games added over the weekend, you are encouraged to make an official bug report through the Xbox dashboard. 

  1. Go to the Xbox Store app.
  2. Search for Xbox Insider Bundle and Install.
  3. Reproduce the issue if possible (open your wishlist) to log it.
  4. Hold down the Xbox button to get to the power menu.
  5. Click 'Report a problem'.
  6. Submit

ORIGINAL STORY FEB. 26, 2024

In 2022, Xbox introduced a wishlist notification system, to the joy of players who'd been asking for the service. The wishlist function allows users to add games, apps, movies, and TV shows that they want to a wish list, and share it with their friends and family — and most importantly can also receive notifications when items on their wish list go on sale. Well until now, as many Xbox users are reporting that their wishlists have been completely wiped.

The loss of wishlists appears to have first been reported around two days ago according to this Reddit thread and has been noticed by more Xbox gamers as the weekend has gone on. Managing Editor Jez Corden asked on X how many users had experienced this problem, and got nearly 300 replies from unhappy Xbox users in less than two hours.

Xbox wishlists wiped, and unable to rebuild

(Image credit: u/Vanishedspartan on Reddit)

Many have reported losing up to 200 games and movies from their wishlist, but perhaps the most concerning thing is they are unable to rebuild their lists. If you add games to your list and exit the store, when you return the list is wiped again.

Reddit user KeyHole12 commented "I went to go purchase something that was on sale on my wishlist, and when I went to the deals section, I didn't see the column for the games that were on sale on my wishlist. So I went to the lists to see that my wishlist was empty. So I quickly started to fill it back up with what I remembered was on it, but when I exited and came back to it, it was emptied again." A quick glance over the Xbox Support Twitter/X page also shows a bunch of users tagging Xbox but no official response about this. Xbox users have also posted in the official Microsoft Community forums, and it seems Xbox Ambassadors are just as in the dark about the issue.

(Image credit: X)

A glimmer of hope that this is just a bug is that some users have reported still receiving the notifications they normally would with their wishlist intact. " Ironically it popped up with '2 games on your wishlist are on sale!' And when I went to it, it's empty. The notification gives me the feeling it's just a bug, where it's all still there but we just can't see it for some reason."

The issue seems to affect consoles, PC, and the Xbox store currently, and might be related to other errors users reported over the weekend such as receiving emails for refunds processed months beforehand and having issues redeeming codes in the Microsoft store. We have contacted Microsoft for comment, but we may not get a response today as it is the weekend.

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Jennifer Young
Jennifer Young

Jen is a News Writer for Windows Central, focused on all things gaming and Microsoft. Anything slaying monsters with magical weapons will get a thumbs up such as Dark Souls, Dragon Age, Diablo, and Monster Hunter. When not playing games, she'll be watching a horror or trash reality TV show, she hasn't decided which of those categories the Kardashians fit into. You can follow Jen on Twitter @Jenbox360 for more Diablo fangirling and general moaning about British weather. 

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4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Donaldb1129
    I wonder if it was done with a wishlist sale coming up. I haven't really used the feature myself but maybe twice. I've used it once I know to make note and tell a buddy about a cool sounding game they might like
    Reply
  • Bob Dobns
    I just saw this article in my Google news feed! I called Microsoft support today because the same thing happened to me! I had 60+ games in my wish list, all of them are gone, and the "wish list" add games function won't let me add any games either. I talked to a couple of support specialists (whose English I could barely understand). They kicked me up to a more "technical" support specialist whose attitude was basically, "Well that's too bad, have a nice day."
    Reply
  • Dush Ku
    There was a microsoft store update on Xbox and then it was gone. They messed something up and probably didn't test things properly.
    Reply
  • Jennifer Young
    Sorry to see you guys have had this issue too. We've updated the article to state that it IS an error that should have been fixed from Monday onwards, though some people have been telling me that if they added games to their wishlist over the weekend the fix is only recovering those games. If this has happened to you there are some instructions about on how to file a bug report with Xbox. I'm crossing my fingers everyone gets their wishlists recovered in full.
    Reply