Microsoft Xbox Live & Sony PlayStation Network Down on Christmas Day, ‘Lizard Squad’ Claims Hacking: Who Are They?

This could be the most frustrating Christmas for Xbox and PlayStation gamers.

On Wednesday evening, Microsoft's Xbox Live and Sony's PlayStation Network went down, said NBC News. Unfortunately, the outage lingered until Christmas, when thousands of players already reported the not-so-merry situation ruining their holiday.

The dreadful situation may have stemmed from a group called the Lizard Squad. As NBC put it, the alleged hackers claimed responsibility over Twitter, "Jingle bells jingle bells xbox got ran, oh my fun it is to troll of you morons ... hey!"

The group also took credit for manning an earlier attack against Sony, wrote The Sydney Morning Herald. This time, the outlet noted that the hackers would "stop hitting" at the gaming rivals' online services if users retweet their statements.

On a lighter note, The Washington Post reported that both Microsoft and Sony have acknowledged their customers' difficulties. At the time of this writing, Xbox Live's Core Services are up and running; the PlayStation Network remained to be offline. Gaming Judgement said most PS4 and PS3 users are still unable to connect.

The Washington Post took note of Xbox Live's earlier status update, "Can't sign in to Xbox Live? Don't worry! We're working to get everything back to normal ASAP. We appreciate your patience. Check back in 30 minutes for a status update."

On the other hand, PlayStation announced in a tweet, "We are aware that there have been issues reported with PSN. Thanks for your patience as we investigate."

Following the assumed increase in the number of Xbox and PlayStation owners for Christmas, both companies likewise expected heavy usage of their services, said Reuters. The outlet cited three Xbox platforms affected by the situation: the Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Xbox running on other devices.

As for Sony, several online attacks were noted to cripple its services this month -- from destruction of data to breach of Hollywood secrets, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. According to the outlet, another group called "Guardians of Peace" claimed deed. The situation has caused Sony to cancel the release of comedy film "The Interview" in the United States.

Meanwhile, The Christian Science Monitor noted that the Lizard Squad has been pursuing random attacks on the gaming industry since summer. The source went on to tell that the group initially surfaced on Aug. 18, soon after admitting anomalies targeted at "League of Legends" and "Runescape."

In addition, the infamous group has claimed responsibility over outages experienced in "GTA 5," "Destiny," "Doda" and "Call of Duty," wrote the outlet.

Check out OGZxFTW's visual account on the report below.