As painful it is to state, Microsoft is ending further production of Xbox 360 consoles. The Xbox 360 has had a great run, with amazing games, a really cool design, wonderful hardware for it’s generation, and much much more, but it’s finally time Microsoft is pulling the plug. The Xbox turned 10 years old last November. In a blog post, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said gamers had completed more than 78 billion hours of play on the devices.
Existing Xboxes will still be sold, until supplies have run out. However, the company confirmed that the death of the Xbox 360 won’t mean the end of many of the services that it requires, so that people still using the console will continue to be able to. They’ll still be able to access Xbox Live, for instance, and will also be able to buy games through the online store or through real shops “while supplies last”.
The company announced the end of the console in a blog post that made much of its history. The company pointed to the game franchises that began on the console, technology like Kinect and the development of Xbox Live, which was available on the first Xbox but flourished on the 360.
Mr.Spencer wrote on his blog:
Thanks to the Xbox 360, we evolved Xbox Live from the original Xbox into the thriving online gaming community it is today, and the console became a beloved gaming and entertainment hub with over 78 billion gaming hours played, nearly 486 billion Gamerscore on 27 billion achievements and over 25 billion hours spent in apps over its lifetime.
I am incredibly proud of all of the work and dedication that went into development of the Xbox 360 hardware, services and games portfolio over the last decade. And I’m grateful to the fans for their continued passion and support,” he wrote.
While we’ve had an amazing run, the realities of manufacturing a product over a decade old are starting to creep up on us.
Two of the writers here at IndianNoob, have experienced the joys of having an Xbox 360, and their favorite games range from HALO (Tanmay) to Vampire Dishwasher (Ayush). We are sure that in 20 years’ time people will find an Xbox 360 under the stairs and say, ‘Oh wow, I remember this old thing….’
Goodbye old friend….