Microsoft Ceases Production of Xbox 360, Servers Will Stay Online

[ffronw]

Microsoft Ceases Production of Xbox 360, Servers Will Stay Online

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1314/1314329.jpgMicrosoft will no longer produce the Xbox 360, but will keep the servers online, at least for now.

The Xbox 360 will no longer be produced, Microsoft announced today. In the official statement, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said, "Xbox 360 means a lot to everyone in Microsoft. And while we've had an amazing run, the realities of manufacturing a product over a decade old are starting to creep up on us. Which is why we have made the decision to stop manufacturing new Xbox 360 consoles."

You'll still be able to find the console in stores, as the existing inventory will continue to be sold, Spencer confirmed. "We will continue to sell existing inventory of Xbox 360 consoles, with availability varying by country."

The statement also confirmed that Microsoft will continue supporting the Xbox Live servers, along with its attendant services, including group chat and Games with Gold. The company will also maintain support for the hardware through its support department.

The Xbox 360 has been around since November of 2005, when it launched in North America. The console took the gaming world by storm, cementing Microsoft's place as a major player in the console industry. You can read the full statement over at Xbox Wire [http://news.xbox.com/2016/04/20/xbox-360-celebrating-10-years/].

Permalink

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I don't want to say anything controversial but it's about time. I don't mean to sound like an old man either but back in my day, when the Xbox 360 first launched, the original Xbox was put to pasture very shortly thereafter. In fact, I would say that's one of the reasons the 360 gained steam as early on as it did...well, after the pre-Gears of War drought anyway. It was just really frustrating for me to see all of this news on games like Titanfall, The Evil Within, Alien: Isolation, Tomb Raider, Wolfenstein: The New One, Dragon Age: Inquisition and hearing the same schtick that THIS WAS THE GAME that will mark the beginning of the next generation! Only to find out later on that, "oh no, we're totally launching this on older consoles too".

I feel sorry for the people like me who haven't bought into the new console generation yet and who can't play new games on their aging computers since it looks like another nudge for us to finally upgrade but I know this will probably be better in the long run. It'll be nice to see if the current consoles really were being pushed to their limits.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

If they take live offline for 360s in less than a decade from this date there'll be riots.

 

[Evonisia]

If they take live offline for 360s in less than a decade from this date there'll be riots.

Yeah I imagine they'll hold off on de-activating Live for a long time on the 360. Hell, even the original Xbox didn't have Live shut down until five years after the 360 came out and that console's sales and popularity was miniscule compared to the 360.

 

[Saelune]

I don't want to say anything controversial but it's about time. I don't mean to sound like an old man either but back in my day, when the Xbox 360 first launched, the original Xbox was put to pasture very shortly thereafter. In fact, I would say that's one of the reasons the 360 gained steam as early on as it did...well, after the pre-Gears of War drought anyway. It was just really frustrating for me to see all of this news on games like Titanfall, The Evil Within, Alien: Isolation, Tomb Raider, Wolfenstein: The New One, Dragon Age: Inquisition and hearing the same schtick that THIS WAS THE GAME that will mark the beginning of the next generation! Only to find out later on that, "oh no, we're totally launching this on older consoles too".

I feel sorry for the people like me who haven't bought into the new console generation yet and who can't play new games on their aging computers since it looks like another nudge for us to finally upgrade but I know this will probably be better in the long run. It'll be nice to see if the current consoles really were being pushed to their limits.

To be fair, there is a reason its harder to stop old console stuff, cause it persists. While the original Xbox did have some online stuff, it wasn't that much and had little persistent content for your profile. The 360 however is far more connected and relevant until its no longer supported. I cant imagine the 360 having much use if they ever completely shut it down, but my xbox still has uses.

What I think they should do, and hope they do, and think all companies with consoles should do is transfer the stuff forward. If the Xbox One can play and do everything the 360 can, then I wont care if the 360 is put down, cause I wont need it. Its one of the reasons I buy old games again on Steam, so I can keep playing them, even though I much prefer consoles. I still have and use my N64, PS2, Xbox, etc cause they still work fine. 360 and PS3 wont though.

 

[lazyslothboy]

As long as people purchase stuff from the xbox 360 marketplace, there will be reason to keep it up. The original xbox as I recall had next to no dlc outside of halo 2 multiplayer maps.

 

[Strazdas]

Wait there were still manufacturing them? shouldnt they have stopped that when the new console came out? sure keep the servers alive but why produce the old console when the new one is the one you want to sell?

 

[Quellist]

Man, i can still remember queuing outside Toys'R'Us for my 360 on the night before launch. Back then a console was something that would be going for years to come, not like now with this wretched PS4.5 on the Horizon already

 

[TheScorpion]

As long as I still use it for streaming purposes, I won't complain for now.

 

[brahm]

Well I for one am glad that live will still be... well live for a while longer. Mine is still my main console, I still cannot justify buying the current gen, most everything that was new or unique i can play on pc, so the value isn't there for me. Besides I'd hate to think all of my world of tanks progress getting lost in the shuffle to switch to a new console.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

The servers will stay live until they're not. Its a sad reality of multiplayer trends. When the player populations migrate to the new systems, the value of keeping the old ones on drop until its no longer viable.

 

[loa]

This'll be interesting, it's the first console generation with focus on digital media so if they ever shut the 360 servers down, a ton of people will just lose all their digital purchases that they didn't download and maybe there are digital only games that phone home in order to start up and will just cease to function at all.

Flipping the switch and turning off xbox live for the 360 is not something they can just do and I imagine in each coming console generation as things become more and more connected, this will become more and more of a mess, maybe enough people will get burned by losing their entire library of purchases for consoles to actually die.