Xbox Fans Should Prepare For A Dark Day On July 29, But There Is A Silver Lining

Summary Xbox 360 online store services will shut down on July 29.

Games on the platform will receive heavy discounts before closure.

Purchased games will remain playable with backwards compatibility on newer consoles.

With past console generations falling to the wayside as the industry progresses, there's sad news for longtime Xbox supporters coming on July 29, albeit with a silver lining. With the current console generation heading into its fourth year (or, in the case of the Switch, its seventh), support for past consoles, devices, and services is beginning to dwindle as companies shift their focus towards newer releases. Unfortunately, this means that some functions of older consoles are inevitably facing discontinued service, rendering players no longer able to use online services on those consoles.

Typically, when consoles move onto new generations, support for devices from the previous generation will continue for some time, before eventually being discontinued. Usually, this occurs somewhere around two generations later - while the old console may still receive some minor updates, most of the focus from companies, developers, and consumers naturally shifts towards the newest release. Some exceptions exist, like crowdfunded games releasing on old consoles that they were initially promised for, or franchises like Just Dance continuing to release on obsolete hardware, but for the most part, old consoles don't receive anything new once newer generations are out.

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The Xbox 360 Store Is Closing Down

Xbox 360 Online Store Services Cease On July 29

Close

As has been announced on the Xbox website, the Xbox 360's online store will close on July 29, meaning that players won't be able to purchase games digitally on the console after that date. In exchange, however, many games on the platform will be receiving heavy discounts (as high as 90% off) before the online store ceases operations. A full list can be found on the announcement post, but the discounted games include major releases like Child of Light, Far Cry 4, and Rise of the Tomb Raider, with more to come on June 18 and July 16. Some of the more significant discounts include the following:

Xbox 360 Game Discount Alone In The Dark 75% Child of Light 80% Far Cry 4 80% Kane and Lynch: Dead Men 85% Sniper: Ghost Warrior 90% Tomb Raider 75% Rise of the Tomb Raider 80% Watch Dogs 80%

Importantly, although the Xbox 360's online store services are shutting down, Xbox has announced that every game purchased will still be playable. Notably, this even includes online titles, as long as the publishers of those titles still support online play themselves, and backwards-compatible Xbox 360 games will still be purchasable and playable on newer consoles like the Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S. While the selection of backwards-compatible games is more limited than the 360's overall library, it does still include classics like Red Dead Redemption and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

Anyone looking to take advantage of the numerous price reductions should also note that they seemingly only apply to the Xbox 360 versions of the game, purchasable either on the console itself or through the Xbox 360 online marketplace. Games like Watch Dogs and Child of Light, which may be available for purchase on more modern Xbox platforms, don't currently have discounts outside the 360 store. While this may be an oversight to be corrected, it's more likely that the discounts are only intended to apply to the Xbox 360 versions of these games.

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The Xbox 360 Discounts Show An Effort Towards Game Preservation

Xbox Pulls Ahead Of Competitors In Backwards Compatibility & Preservation

In light of recent bad news for Xbox, it's worth noting that the company's adherence to preserving backwards compatibility and preserving old games is something genuinely worth celebrating. Competitors in similar situations, most notably Nintendo, do not typically make their consoles with the preservation of older titles in mind, usually preferring instead to sell remakes and remasters later down the line - which can result in some consumers turning to less official means for playing classic titles.

For any longtime Xbox fans who still own their 360, or even those looking to play old Xbox classics, the drastic price reductions of 360 games represents a good opportunity to both play and preserve these old titles. While many of them are available on more modern platforms as well, the 360 versions will undoubtedly be the cheapest option available for purchasing them until the online marketplace ceases operations. Including the currently unknown games to be discounted at future dates, some titles may become significantly harder to get a hold of after the store closes on July 29.

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While the closure of the Xbox 360 online store is sad news for longtime Xbox fans, the significant discounts on old titles and the preservation of backwards compatibility for those titles is a nice silver lining, and players interested in old Xbox classics should take the opportunity to buy the discounted games. Many major gaming companies don't have much of an interest in preserving games after their console generation passes, and it's nice to see that, in at least this one respect, Xbox is a genuine industry leader.

Source: Xbox