Videos Not Working on Chrome

I try to play videos, new and old, on Chrome and they don't play.

-It's not the solid black screen. The play button doesn't go away. You can see the word "loading" pulsating behind said play button (specifically the "L" in it).

-Clearing cache, cookies, and site data doesn't work.

-My Chrome is up to date and my ad and tracker blocker are off. (I want to say there was a recent Chrome update? Chrome updates have messed things up in the past re: videos on the site.)

-Simple refreshing doesn't work.

-Works fine on Firefox.

exact same problem here, i have to watch all videos on youtube.

Can confirm, also having this issue.

chipping in, me too.

Same issue, trying to use the download feature (in any quality) opens up a new tab that simply says "Forbidden".

Same here. I've tried chrome and edge and neither are loading the player. Doesn't seem to matter if it's new videos or old.

There’s no rhyme or reason for videos playing or not. Sometimes I can just refresh the page once and it’ll work, but other times it doesn’t work at all. Randomly started in the middle of the Deadly Premonition ER. The first could worked fine, but the rest I had to hit the download button and watch it through the Chrome browser player. Really frustrating.

Happening to me too as of maybe 2 days ago (approx. early Friday morning), in both Firefox and Chrome. Using the Download dropdown works in both browsers.

Edit 3 weeks later: Enabling the Functional and Performace cookies fixed it in both.

As of today I noticed a similar issue, except for me it's not working in Firefox, while Chrome works fine. I think the last non-live video I watched was sometime middle of or late last week, so could be that the problem first arose earlier than today.

• Mouse cursor changes to hand when hovering over play button (i.e. large triangle in middle of player), but clicking it results in literally no effect whatsoever (unlike OP, I do not see "loaiding" in the background or anything)
• Refreshing the page does not help
• Made sure to update to latest version of FF
• Tried disabling all extensions to see if that had any effect (nope)

I should mention, ever since this new player was introduced I've had an issue for any content that defaults to audio, where after I click to switch to video, the video player is like 30-40% smaller than it should be, and pressing play does nothing. After refreshing the page, the video player appears normal size and clicking play then works. Just want to clarify the issue I've started getting today is not that issue, as even after a refresh the play button still does nothing (and it's happening on all videos, not just ones with audio-only formats)

Definitely sounds like some of this might be new so I'll ping @dtoast

Another "Not working for me in Firefox" shout here.

EDIT: Also not working in Edge

Gonna add another not working in Chrome, and also not working in everyone's favourite gamer browser, Opera GX

@zombiepie: Logged a new ticket.

+1 for broken on Firefox. Clicking the play button registers no visible change.

Same for me on both Firefox and Chrome. I've tried disabling all extensions, and using both normal & private tabs, but nothing has worked. Trying to download a video brings up an Error page - "Error 403 - No Token Found".

Not working for me wither on Chrome, Firefox, and my Fire tablet. Audio podcasts don't work on my tablet either but they work fine on Chrome..

Same problems on my pc using Firefox, also doesn't work on my android-phone with Firefox and Chrome. Tried everything, nothing has worked so far. Been a few days like that, have to watch the content on Youtube.

I also can't watch GB videos on Firefox. It's been that way for at least a week.

Can confirm the issue is present for us freaks that use Edge too

Same problem here, video won't play, clicking on the big play button does nothing. Tried Firefox, Chrome and Edge, regular and incognito.

This has gone on for way too long. Why isn't this fixed yet???

+1 for all browsers..

just don't have the time to come here and post about the issues every time they break it. So I just move on to Twitch since I can get a free Sub from Amazon Prime there and skip the commercials. It seems like that's what the new corp wants anyway. Been watching video on this site since it started posting video (and been a Sub since Subs started). Nothing like constant "technical issues" to force you to move along... I'm over it. Not a Fan of Fandumb.

hello just adding to the chorus of voices that video does not work on all browsers with/without extensions disabled.

happy to provide a browser log if it's helpful.

Not working here either. I don't even get a black screen though. Nothing happens when I click on the video. The image just remains where the video should start.

Broken on firefox

Pretty cool functional website that I pay a subscription fee for you got here

Add me to the list. My Chrome was fine until this morning. Now it’s nothing but black screens and broken play buttons.

Same issue here when using Chrome :-(
No reaction at all when I press the Play button on any video.

Yep, think I've said it on another thread and on the discord, but I'm also having issues. I can't play videos at all on firefox and only sometimes on safari. I'm on mac if it helps dial down any issues.

Same for Chrome for the at least a week, maybe two weeks. Clicking play does nothing. Video window stays black.

Chrome

Version 112.0.5615.138 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Windows 10 22H2

I've been paying annual subscription since it was first available. Since the original crew left the only reason I still come here is to watch old videos. But now I can't watch anything here. Pretty hard to justify paying the fee anymore

I am on chrome and cant watch any videos new or old...

I have tried Chrome, Brave, Firefox (no adblocker extensions used) and separate PCs. Firefox on Steam Deck.

I also tested on Android Chrome (no adblocker extensions used) on my home network and mobile data (to see if it was my network).

All browsers and machines give the exact same problem of a video player that does not work (Black screen and greyed out Play button, click is not registered) after trying to click on it.

The really hilarious part for me about this whole thing is that videos still play on my PS4's web browser.

I've got a PS5 and Switch hooked up to my main screen, and a PS4 hooked up to a second screen on which I'll sometimes watch videos while I'm playing something. I'd been watching Metal Gear Scanlon again--for the third time, I think--and I had left off in the middle of season 4, episode 10. I fired up my PS4 just now to check, and yep, it still plays there.

But any modern and updated browser on a PC? Not so much! Certainly nothing I've got on the PC I'm posting this message from and that sees most of my GB consumption.

It's pretty astounding to me that all the videos are broken on a site that fundamentally revolves around video content, and there's been no fix for weeks. Really, guys?

This is info from post-fix application:

Currently using Firefox 112.0.2 (64-bit) on Windows 10 22H2.

Cache is cleared and browser was updated.

Tried this video: https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/blue-bombin-mega-man-6-part-03/2970-11207

I can hit the play button, but the screen is black. I can hear audio, but cannot click the screen to pause. Spacebar does pause the video. I don't see any controls on the video.

Then I tried this video: https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/mass-effect-3-part-26-the-finale/2970-20737

Same results as above video.

Lastly I tried a newer free video: https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/redfall/2970-22320

Pressing play starts me on YT - when I switch to GB player it does work fine. When I lower the volume, the video pauses though.

I did try it also on a newer premium video: https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/780-matt-rories-alpha-protocol/2970-22189/premium-video

This one works fine. Same as above, though because I switched to GB player already it probably auto-plays with the GB player.

Went back to an older premium video: https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/demo-derby-official-playstation-magazine-issue-58/2970-13254

Same results as the first video.

The player is not working after the update and behaving exactly in the broken way it has been.

Tested chrome on PC and Android.

Yep, still having issues after the update. Tried clearing my cache as suggested but nothing.

Same with me. Cleared my cache on both Firefox and Chrome and the player still won't work.

The video player is working again for me on Chrome (after clearing the cache) on my Work machine, however, the site's new video player is having the previous issue of not saving the playback spot. So if i reload, it starts at the beginning again. This issue, about not saving the playback location, has been going on for months, ever since the new video player was introduced.

Youtube verison of the videos work correctly (they play and save last played location).

Update: Tried clearing the cache again on my home machine, on Chrome, and it didn't work. It did on my work machine a few hours ago, also on Chrome. These two machines are rather different (i don't control what is on the work machine, also, the work machine is windows 10, while my home machine is windows 11).

Been noticing the not saving playback location issue on iOS as well.

@dwmc: I don't think this is a feature that is coming back with the transition over to the new player.

I found this response from Rorie in a previous thread about the video player:

"I don't have an ETA on the continuing where left off feature, unfortunately. Lots of stuff going on but might take some time to restore it, if it's possible.".

https://www.giantbomb.com/forums/bug-reporting-33/new-video-player-rolling-out-today-1909574/?page=2

Might be with tagging @dtoast for an up date on that.

Fingers crossed but the player is now working for me on Safari for both new videos and old videos. I hope I don't jinx it.

Same here still not working on chrome or Firefox. I’m not renewing my sub after dealing with this for so long.

@tiltz: I messaged support and asked them to refund my sub (it only renewed a couple of weeks ago though). They did refund me, although I am no longer a Premium Member. It might be worth doing something similar.

It's tough. I subscribed in 2011 but as you said, the site doesn't work anymore. I now subscribe to YouTube Premium instead.

Still not working for me on Chrome. Still works for me on Firefox though.

Not working for me on Win10 in both Chrome and Firefox. Have tried on 2 different computers.

Unfortunately site videos still don't work for me, post-fix. I manually cleared my cache too, and no dice (Firefox, Win11). Tried with and without adblocker.

My experience is slightly different than what some others have described; when I click on the play button, nothing happens. No error message, no sign that it's loading, no reaction at all.

Yep, still no dice for me. I'm on Chrome and videos still won't play at all.

No reaction like others have reported in Chrome, but Firefox at least loads the YouTube video (Windows 10, cleared site data).

I managed to get it working on Chrome. I normally reject all cookies and this recently has caused the videos to break. What I did instead was clear out all cookies, click on "Show Purposes" and enabled "Performance Cookies" only. Been fine since. But as others have said, only youtube versions save progress.

@theeliminator: Thanks! I'll try this next time it asks me to reject cookies.