Want to feel old? It turns out that the Microsoft Xbox 360 — a console that I’m sure only launched a couple of years ago — turns 18 this November.
Yes, the Xbox 360’s November 2005 launch means that it’s to the Xbox Series X as the NES is to the GameCube. Ludicrous.
And what is Microsoft doing to honour its 18th birthday? Closing its online store, that’s what.
“On July 29, 2024, Xbox will stop supporting the ability to purchase new games, DLC, and other entertainment content from the Xbox 360 Store on the console and the Xbox 360 Marketplace,” wrote Dave McCarthy, CVP of Xbox Player Services in a blog post.
That gives you just under a year to download Xbox 360 games and DLC to the console, so fill your boots.
But if you no longer have a 360, all isn’t lost. Microsoft has heroically made over 500 Xbox 360 games backwards compatible with its later consoles, and you’ll still be able to download and access them after closing time. Some of them are even enhanced on the Xbox Series console with higher framerates and HDR.
But even with 633 Xbox 360 games playable on modern hardware, that still leaves an estimated 1,521 that won’t be. Plenty of those will be disk-based, but plenty won’t, so it’s time to make a hit list of what you want to rescue before closing time.
Microsoft says that the store’s closure won’t affect your ability to play the games on your 360 hardware once you blow the inch-thick layer of dust away, assuming it’s still working. Though that’s a big if considering the console’s well-documented reliability issues.
The same can’t be said for the Microsoft Movies & TV app which will give up the ghost on the same day, apparently. Though I can’t imagine too many tears will be shed for that, given it’s a throwback from a time when Netflix was just a mail-order DVD rental company.
Image: Aaron Holmes / Pixabay
