Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel players are having difficulty getting into the game this morning, thanks to a "surge in access" caused by the start of the game's first-ever in-game event.
People trying to log in have been faced with an emergency maintenance screen saying that log-ins are being 'staggered'. Instead of there being any kind of queue, they're then being kicked back to a splash screen to be met with the same message.
This isn't the only problem that has hit Master Duel, as Microsoft put out a tweet earlier this morning notifying players of outages for the matchmaking service on Xbox platforms. While that problem appears to have since been resolved, players are still having difficult even getting to matchmaking to play.
Fortunately, the game isn't seeing the same lengthy queues that Final Fantasy XIV or Lost Ark faced recently isn't a queue to sit for hours in, you're simply prompted to give logging in another go and hope it works. After a few tries you should, eventually, be able to get through to the update screen to download the new event, the Xyz Festival.
The Xyz Festival is the first in-game event since Master Duel stealth launched in January, and comes with a new Rage of Cipher Structure deck (perfect for taking part in the event), a number of banlist updates, and, of course, the festival itself. While participating in the event, you are only allowed to use Xyz Monsters in your Extra Deck and use the Xyz Summoning mechanic. In exchange for that limitation, you can earn big rewards like a lot of gems, reward tickets, and legacy pack tickets. The event is free for anyone to enter on all platforms, and runs until February 24.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel has been doing ridiculously well since launch, so it's no surprise it's finally run into a few overwhelmed servers. In the space of just one week, it shot from 4 million downloads to over 10 million, and was celebrated by rewarding anyone who logs in before March 31 with free gems. This boost was thanks in no small part to the iOS and Android versions of the game, which launched a few weeks after their PC and console counterparts.