What you need to know
- The digital Xbox 360 store is shutting down on July 29, 2024.
- This shutdown means that a number of non-backward compatible games will no longer be available for purchase.
- Xbox is working with publishers to create deep discounts for affected games, so players can buy them at a cheap price and continue downloading and playing them on any Xbox 360 consoles they own.
- This doesn’t have any affect on backward compatible games available to buy through the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S storefronts.
Ahead of a big online store shutdown, a few teams are doing everything they can to make some games at least somewhat accessible moving forward.
As previously shared, the Xbox 360 online store is shutting down on July 29, 2024, meaning that a number of Xbox 360 games that were not available through backward compatibility on later systems will essentially be gone forever.
In order to give players a chance to grab these games easily and keep them on their accounts, the Xbox team is working with publishers to heavily discount some of the affected games (as shared via Xbox Wire) with a number of titles now available for just a dollar or three. More games will be added twice: First on June 18, and then on July 16. You can find the list of discounted games below:
If you’ve bought a game from the Xbox 360 store, then it’ll continue to be available to download and play on your Xbox 360 even after the store goes offline. Naturally, you will have to have a working Xbox 360, which currently go for around $160 on Amazon for a renewed model.
What about my backward compatible games?
This shutdown is not going to change anything in regards to backward compatible Xbox games. If you’ve enjoyed buying and playing games like Dead Space 2 or The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, you’ll be able to continue doing so, as these games are listed through the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S storefront.
The backward compatibility program ran for years, with Xbox adding one last massive batch of games in November 2021, including games like the original Max Payne and Max Payne 2.
Analysis: A nice gesture for players
While it doesn’t address long-term issues — you still need an Xbox 360 in order to actually play these games — it’s nice that anyone who wants to will be able to scoop up a number of these games for dirt cheap prices. If you don’t see a particular title discounted, don’t panic, as two more batches of games will see price reductions before the store goes offline.
Moving forward, I still hope we see better long-term efforts for game preservation across the industry. Xbox has done a better job than many, but there are still gaps in the portfolio, and Microsoft recently shuttered Arkane Austin before the team was able to implement an offline mode for Redfall.
