Microsoft Ends Xbox 360 Production

Microsoft Ends Xbox 360 Production

After a successful ten-and-a-half-year run, the Xbox 360 is officially saying goodbye. One might even say it’s turning around 360 degrees and walking away.

Announcing the news on the Xbox Wire today, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer wrote a few paragraphs about the console’s success. And it has indeed been successful, selling upwards of 78 million units as of 2013. Thanks to strong third-party support and some early stumbling by Sony (“five hundred and ninety-nine US dollars”), the Xbox 360 came out strong to surpass its predecessor and give Microsoft an edge for most of last console generation.

“Xbox 360 means a lot to everyone in Microsoft,” Spencer wrote. “And while we’ve had an amazing run, the realities of manufacturing a product over a decade old are starting to creep up on us. Which is why we have made the decision to stop manufacturing new Xbox 360 consoles. We will continue to sell existing inventory of Xbox 360 consoles, with availability varying by country.”

Xbox Live will remain active, Spencer said, as will the Xbox 360’s various stores and online services. The Xbox One also supports backwards compatibility for some 360 games, and Microsoft has been gradually adding new games to the list over the past weeks and months.

The Xbox 360 leaves behind one hell of legacy, full of memorable gaming moments both good and bad: achievement collecting, Kinect, exclusive DLC, red rings of death, Halo, Gears of War, Mass Effect and Lost Odyssey.

(Photo by Philip Sowels/Future Publishing via Getty Images)


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


15 responses to “Microsoft Ends Xbox 360 Production”