On your Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One console, you may encounter the issue when attempting to launch installed games, after selecting a title, where the console gets stuck on the Getting your game ready screen. This post offers easy solutions affected gamers can apply to resolve the issue.
Getting your game ready, This might take a minute or two.
Xbox stuck on Getting your game ready screen
This problem usually occurs due to data corruption. So, if when you try to launch a game on your Xbox console but get stuck on the Getting your game ready screen, then our suggested fixes outlined below should help you quickly resolve the issue and get back to playing your favorite games on your console.
- Reboot the Xbox console
- Check for new game updates and console updates
- Reinstall the game
- Reset the Xbox console
Let’s look at the description of the process as it relates to each of the listed solutions. Before you proceed, wait for up to five minutes and if the game still doesn’t launch, you can close it by highlighting the game on the Home screen, then press the hamburger menu button (three horizontal lines), and select the Quit option. You can now continue with the solutions below.
1] Restart the Xbox console
When you power cycle your Xbox to restart the console, the action will also reset the software, usually clearing out any glitches that were affecting gameplay or launching the game in this case. To power-cycle your Xbox console by following these steps:
- Press and hold the Xbox button on the front of the console for approximately 10 seconds to turn off your console.
- Unplug your Xbox from the mains.
- Wait at least 30-60 seconds.
- Once the time elapses, plug your Xbox back into the power outlet.
- Now, press the Xbox button on the console or the Xbox button on your controller to turn your console back on.
You can try these steps again and make sure to hold the power button down until the console shuts down fully if you don’t see the green boot-up animation when it restarts. Shutting the system down is also a good idea at the end of any gaming session even if the system did run without errors, as it saves power and allows the console to rest, and possibly clears any potential glitch on startup that might cause games to launch.
2] Check for new game updates and console updates
It’s likely your Xbox console is stuck on the Getting your game ready screen when you launch a game because the game is not updated. If you have set your Xbox to automatically update games and apps in Profile & system > Settings > System > Updates, your games will be updated as new versions become available. If a game hasn’t been updated, the update is either unavailable or not installed. The fastest way to update a game is to make sure your console is connected online to Xbox Live, then launch the game.
To check to see if there is an update available for a specific game on your Xbox console, follow these steps:
- From the Home menu, navigate to the game that you want to check for updates.
If you can’t find your game, select the My games & apps option from the Home menu. In the Games menu that appears, you should see a list of games you have installed on your console.
- With the game highlighted, press the Menu button on your controller.
- Select the Manage game and add-ons option from the game pop-up menu.
- In the Manage menu for that specific game, select the Updates option from the list.
- In the Updates menu, you should see a list of available updates, if there are any, that can be downloaded and installed.
In addition, you should manually update your Xbox console by following these steps:
- Press the Xbox button to open the guide.
- Select Profile & system > Settings > System > Updates.
- Under Updates, you’ll see:
- Console update available. Select this to begin your update.
- No console update is available. This means your console is up to date.
If the issue persists after this, you can proceed with the next solution.
Read: Error 0x80072EE2 when installing the game on PC or updating Xbox
3] Reinstall the game
You’re likely to encounter the issue at hand because the installed game data may be corrupted on your Xbox console. In this case, to correct this, you need to uninstall and then reinstall the game. The process of deleting or uninstalling a game from your Xbox console is not only quick and easy but also completely reversible. When you reinstall a game, you previously uninstalled from your console, your saved data will still be intact due to the cloud backup saves.
To reinstall a game on your Xbox, follow these steps:
- Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide.
- Select My games & apps > See all.
- Select Games or Apps.
- Highlight the game or app you want to uninstall.
- Press the Menu button.
- Select Uninstall.
- Select Uninstall all.
Now, to reinstall the game, return to the Home screen, then select the disc to reinstall a physical copy of the game. For the digital copy of the game, navigate to My games & apps > Full library > All owned games. You can also download the game again from the Ready to install tab at the top of the screen or you can search for and download the game from the Microsoft Store.
Read: Can’t download or install Xbox Game Pass Games on Windows PC
4] Reset the Xbox console
When you reset the OS, the procedure deletes all potentially corrupted data without deleting your games or apps. In some cases, if a corrupt game file is causing the issue you’re presently facing, you may have to choose the Reset and remove everything, but you should first go with the Reset and keep my games & apps option.
To reset your Xbox console, follow these steps:
- Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide.
- Select Profile & system > Settings > System > Console info.
- Select Reset console.
- Select Reset and keep my games & apps.
Hopefully, this post helps you!
Read next: Xbox App Game Installation gets stuck on Preparing 0%
What does Getting your game ready mean Xbox?
The Getting your game ready issue on Xbox when you try to launch an app or game usually happens after an Xbox has reset according to some affected console gamers. Also, the issue happens when using an external drive with games that were downloaded from another console. If the issue occurs every time, you can redownload the app. Also, check that you don’t have the same app both external and internal in case one got corrupted.
Read: Xbox One is randomly uninstalling or deleting games on its own
What to do if Xbox is stuck on updating screen?
If your Xbox is stuck on updating screen, to see if you can resolve the issue, do the following:
- Press and hold the Xbox button on the front of the console for approximately 10 seconds.
- After the console has shut down, unplug the power cord and wait 30 seconds.
- Next, plug the console back in and turn on the system by pressing the Xbox button.
- Lastly, after the console restarts, try installing the system update again.
Read: Xbox Update Error Code 0x8B0500D0, 0x90050005, 0x00000000.
