Back in February, Microsoft ‘accidentally’ posted a support page article stating that the Xbox 360 Marketplace would close in May 2023 but then retracted. Shawn wrote an essay three months later saying we ought to treat the 360 Marketplace as if it was announced to be closing. Turns out that was good advice as today Microsoft officially announced the Xbox 360 Marketplace closure for July 29th, 2024. Dave McCarthy, CVP Xbox Player Services, writes:
As we head toward 2024, we have a change to share about the Xbox 360 experience:
- 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 (marketplace.xbox.com)
- Related to this change, the Microsoft Movies & TV app will no longer function on Xbox 360, which means TV and movie content will no longer be viewable on your Xbox 360 after July 29th, 2024.
Between now and July 2024, you can continue purchasing games and DLC from the Xbox 360 Store and at the Xbox 360 Marketplace.
This change will not affect your ability to play Xbox 360 games or DLC you have already purchased. Xbox 360 game content previously purchased will still be available to play, not only the Xbox 360 console but also Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S devices via backward compatibility.
Microsoft Announcement – August 17th, 2023
The official announcement contains some fluff but also a brief FAQ. From that, we learn that online servers are NOT closing down on July 29th, 2024. Those remain open as long as the game’s publisher maintains them. All Xbox 360 backward-compatible titles should remain purchasable on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and xbox.com. The bad news comes from all Xbox 360 titles (and subsequent DLC) which are not playable on later Xbox consoles. The non-BC games will be a good focus for a future article, but I wanted to get the breaking news out there!
Then last, Microsoft created a support page dedicated to the closure here. I see some pertinent additional news, which I’ve summarized below.
- All avatar items, apps, gamerpics, game trailers, and videos will go by the wayside too! Most of the videos and trailers are probably saved on YouTube, but how sad to lose all the avatar items, apps, and gamerpics.
- You’ll need to redeem Xbox 360 download codes before July 29th, 2024. After that date, they may no longer be redeemable. Xbox 360 BC download codes should still work on later hardware or xbox.com, but that’d make me nervous as the official language says “most” codes should work after that date.
- You can still download game patches and unlock achievements after the shutdown.
- Microsoft does not intend to release more backward compatible games moving forward. Wow, darn!
- After July 29th, 2024, you’ll still be able to make purchases for Xbox 360 and Original Xbox backward compatible content on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and xbox.com. Note that in-game purchases for these items will not be supported through in-game menus. These purchases must be made in the Microsoft Store on Xbox or on xbox.com. Any purchases for backward compatible games and content that are made through an Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S will show up in your download history on an Xbox 360 as well. Nice that there will still be a way to get some DLC on a 360 after the closure (but only for BC titles)!
I’ll add the event to the Watch List calendar and start compiling a list of non-BC titles to think about purchasing for the next article on the topic.