You may remember a few weeks ago that Microsoft launched the UFC (ultimate fighting championship) streaming video app for owners of the Xbox 360. Among other things, the app was supposed to be a way to watch the big pay per view fight events from the mixed martial arts organization without the need for a cable or satellite TV subscription. However, Ars Technica reports that the first pay per view event for the new app didn"t work as advertised for many of its users.
The event, UFC 141, was heavily promoted by Microsoft. The company gave out tens of thousands of free codes for fans to watch UFC 141 on the Xbox 360 app, however, the writer of the article stated that the app would not let him pay for the event and then the UFC app generated lots of errors during the session.
Microsoft later sent UFC app users an email saying, "At this time technical issues for UFC on Xbox LIVE persist and are preventing the 25,000 fans who were granted free access from viewing UFC 141. We"ll continue to work on resolving these issues throughout the evening, but are encouraging consumers to seek alternate means for viewing UFC 141."
In the end it appears that the issues were not solved before UFC 141 ended this past weekend. Bitmob.com reports that Microsoft sent out another email apologizing for the problems and promising that those were were affected would get a voucher for another free UFC pay per view event. However, it"s clear that the UFC app was launched long before it was ready for prime time.