It’s time to wave a fond farewell to another console as Microsoft have announced that the Xbox 360 will no longer be manufactured. “The realities of manufacturing a product over a decade old are starting to creep up on us,” posted Phil Spencer in a blog, adding that they continue to sell their existing inventory of Xbox 360 consoles.
Whilst the console is being discontinued, support for the product is not.
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Xbox 360 owners will continue to receive Xbox Live services for their console, such as online multiplayer gaming and parties, access to the apps they use today, and Games with Gold and Deals with Gold.
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Xbox Live servers that support Xbox 360 services will also remain online and active. Our Xbox 360 fans can continue to play their favorite games with the full support of Xbox Live.
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Gamers will also be able to continue to buy over 4,000 Xbox 360 games or Xbox 360 accessories at retail and through our Xbox 360 store online, while supplies last.
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Any Xbox 360 hardware will still be supported at xbox.com/support.
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And Xbox One owners will be able to continue to enjoy available Xbox 360 games through Xbox One Backward Compatibility – at no additional cost.
“I want to personally thank the Xbox community – that includes the vast and diverse audience of gamers, developers and publishers who brought so much passion and creativity to the Xbox 360,” posted Phil. “You are the heart of what we do at TEAM XBOX, and you have been critical to the success of Xbox 360.”
Source: Microsoft
CrawFail
Part of me thought this would happen sooner.
I’ve got 4 360’s from the original White RROD magnet to the new E model. Great consoles despite their flaws.
So that means Microsoft are 100% behind the One now? All their eggs are in one basket?
ron_mcphatty
The points about support are a bit saccharine sweet, whilst it’s nice to clarify that 360 players won’t be hung out to dry it’s a little bit shit to spin it as a positive thing. Whilst multiplayer services will understandably be cut off eventually, I do hope no more consoles go the way of the PSP and end up unable to download our digital purchases.
Crazy_Del
Doesn’t suprise me since Xbox One has backwards compatibility. Bought Xbox 369 twice the first one broke thanks to the Red Ring of Death!
My favourite games were Gears of War mostly the multiplayer which I am still playing on the Remaster Version for Xbox One ?
My first Xbox 360 game was PGR3 I think was a great racing game that.
camdaz
I didn’t think they still made the 360, it’s had a good run though.
Andrewww
I’ve never really had much appreciation for this piece of hardware, which they’ve put on the market half-baked, causing RRODs for so many early adopters. Even worse, that MS got away with it, I never really understood. At least they support it still, which is good for users.
Avenger
Half-baked, getting away with it? Nope sorry I can’t understand any of that. Released just fine, but with a widespread technical flaw that caused RRoD’s. PS3 had a similar issue but occurred less frequently, and the Wii seemed perfectly fine. But on both counts the court ruled that Sony and MS had to extend the guarantee where such a problem occurred, so neither company ‘got away with it’. Happened to my 360 console, and got it repaired free due to that legal guarantee and with minimal hassle.
beeje13
I think he’s referring to the part were MS knew that there was a fault (to do with new lead-free solder) and still sold the consoles. In the end they picked up most of the cost though.
Avenger
Yeah it was a bit shite that it took a court ruling just to get them to take responsibility, but that’s why I thought they never really got away with it.
Stefan L
I don’t know that there was a court ruling, or at least not before Microsoft had already set up the $1.15 billion slush fund and extended warranties to three years themselves. Peter Moore recalled the story of setting that up with Steve Ballmer in the middle of last year.
Andrewww
My perception was back then, that there wasn’t much backlash for putting the product on the market in spite of knowing beforehand a lot of them (as far as I know magnitudes dissimilar to the YLODs) would break. My hypothesis would be, that with non-American products, the public and media outrage and investigations, etc. are usually of a different… may I say magnitude again? But that is entirely untested and I have no systematic data to back this up, so there’s no point in speaking against it… ;o)
Starman
Understandable as it’s not hard to find a 2nd hand one cheap now. Nice that they’ve answered the inevitable support questions now rather than Phil having to tweet it to someone.
Avenger
Seems common sense with the backwards compatibility library increasing and most third-party developers focusing solely on this generation of tech. To be honest my one was barely used after 2012, except now and then to play classics. The PS3 had a better run of it towards the end, but even that is losing a bit of momentum games-wise over here in the west.
The Lone Steven
Kinda surprising that they are keeping the service running for the 360 but it seems they have all of their eggs in one basket and well, the X1 hasn’t gathered steam yet. Kinda cut off their safety net but the last gen consoles were always going to get put to bed at some point. It will be interesting to see if the PS3 will last as long as the PS2 despite the generation gap. I mean, i swear it only got discontinued earlier this decade.
beeje13
Yeah PS2 only stopped being manufactured as PS4 was started, In January 2013. Incredible really.
The Lone Steven
We are unlikely to see a console last that long again. Even the Wii ended up being discontinued before the PS2. I think.
Temascos
I remember the early 360 demo units being up while I was in college, Call Of Duty 2 was on there and it looked great. I never got a 360 but Microsoft scored a great success with this console in the first half of the generation, second half got massive bumps with Kinect but it suffered in terms of first party output. And of course come 2013 Microsoft slipped up when they could have easily held their own.
Good console. :)