It’s the end of an era: Microsoft is officially
planning to shut down the Xbox 360 Store and the Xbox 360 Marketplace. While certainly sad news, it might not be necessarily surprising: The Xbox Games Store launched with the console
back in 2005, the same year
YouTube started. It was a different world. Now, with the Xbox two generations ahead, it’s time to close the 360's digital shop.
But don’t mourn the Xbox 360 Store and Marketplace just yet—Microsoft isn’t closing these stores until July 29, 2024. That means you have almost a year from this announcement to buy as many digital games as you want for your Xbox 360. That’s a good amount of notice, and it’s a
great run for these stores, coming in at just shy of 19 years.
Nintendo
closed the 3DS and Wii U eShops earlier this year, and closed the
Wii Shop back in 2019. The PS3 and Vita stores are still up and running, but only just, as Sony
forces you to use preloaded funds on the console itself. For the next 11 months, you can continue buying games from the Xbox 360 Store and Marketplace as always.
But July 29, 2024 isn’t the Xbox 360's official retirement or anything. Even when Microsoft shuts down the digital store, you’ll be able to download any and all past purchases—no need to scramble to download everything you’ve ever bought from the service. Plus, online services will still be up and running. So long as a game’s servers are still active, you can continue playing online with friends and strangers alike. Game developers can even issue updates for games, should they come up.
Backwards-compatible content also lives on. Even if the game is for Xbox 360 or the Original Xbox, you can purchase and download backwards compatible content on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and xbox.com. Any available account balance or unused gift cards can be used through your Microsoft account, microsoft.com, or Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S past July 24. That said, game codes will not work after this date, so use them up before then.
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