How to resolve the "Failed to check for updates. Exiting application" message?

For any games that use the Windows Update service to check for and install updates, such as Crackdown 3 and State of Decay 2 in my case, there is likely something stopping the Windows Update service when playing games.

After many hours of research I found that in my case I have an application called Killer Control Centre which is to improve my Wi-Fi and internet connection by monitoring and prioritising network traffic.

This app has a special gaming setting called GameFast Mode. In it's self this is a good thing but games that use the Windows Update service for their updates, such as Crackdown 3 and State of Decay 2 in my case, fail because this setting disables the Windows Update service when you start playing a game.

To fix this is very simple. In the list at the bottom of the "GameFast settings screen" is a list called Services to pause. Scroll through this list until you find "Windows Update" and unselect it. That's it... it should now work.

I couldn't be bothered to do this so i just uninstalled it and installed it again, worked fine for me then. Turned out it was a newer version of the game (juggernaut edition) that for some reason didn't download the normal way.

Go to Microsoft Store and find the downloads and updates, click update all, find State of Decay in the list and prioritise this update.