The Xbox 360.
The digital storefront for buying video games and different media on the Xbox 360 game console will be shut down subsequent summer season, only a bit shy of 20 years after the console’s debut.
A weblog publish announcement credited to Dave McCarthy, CVP of Xbox Player Services at Microsoft, said that purchases will not be potential beginning on July 29, 2024. The change impacts each the on-console retailer and the Xbox 360 Marketplace web site. Users will lose the potential to buy video games, films and TV content material, and avatars and different profile customizations.
Users will nonetheless be capable of obtain and play video games they’ve already bought for the foreseeable future after that date, and lots of different community options will proceed to work, like communication with buddies, cloud saves, and on-line play in multiplayer video games whose builders nonetheless assist it. Developers will nonetheless be capable of concern patches and updates to Xbox 360 video games, too. Backward-compatible Xbox 360 video games will nonetheless be accessible for buy on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S shops, Microsoft says.
That stated, the identical will not be true for video content material customers have acquired. TV episodes and movies bought by way of Xbox’s on-line marketplace will stay in customers’ libraries, however playback will not be potential on Xbox 360 consoles. Users will have to show to different machines like Windows PCs or newer Xbox consoles like the Xbox One or Xbox Series X to view the content material.
Although the Xbox 360’s on-line marketplace was one of the first digital distribution platforms for game consoles, this is not the first time a shutdown like this has been introduced. Nintendo infamously shut down the Wii U and 3DS eShops, which ended entry to quite a few indie titles. Sony introduced related plans for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, however canceled them after a buyer, media, and influencer backlash. It moved forward with closing the older PSP retailer, although.