Xbox 360 store shutdown sale brings huge discounts for games that are about to disappear
Grab a number of Xbox 360 games at low prices before the online store shuts down in July 2024.
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What you need to know
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.
Aspreviously 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 viaXbox 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 Amazonfor a renewed model.
What about my backward compatible games?
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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, withXbox 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 stillneedan 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.
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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, andMicrosoft recently shuttered Arkane Austinbefore the team was able to implement an offline mode for Redfall.
Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter@SamuelTolbert.
