Xbox Fans Wave Goodbye to 360 Marketplace as Microsoft Shuts Down 19-Year-Old Storefront

stracerxx 4 months ago

Xbox fans are waving goodbye to the Xbox 360 Marketplace, which shuts down today nearly 19 years after it launched.

The Xbox 360 Marketplace hit the internet alongside the Xbox 360 in November 2005, and brought with it a storefront that would become familiar to a generation of gamers.

Microsoft shuts down the Xbox 360 Marketplace today, July 29, not only marking the end of an era and the true end of the Xbox 360, but making a long list of video games and add-ons that were exclusive to the digital storefront impossible to buy. That list includes the likes of Aegis Wing, Meteos Wars, and Crimson Alliance.

Fans have taken to social media to reminisce about the Xbox 360 Marketplace, including former Microsoft employee Larry ‘Major Nelson’ Hryb, who for years would write posts about sales and updates for the Xbox 360 Marketplace and became the face of Xbox for so many fans.

“Almost 19 years on, all good things must come to an end,” Hryb tweeted. “It was my pleasure sharing all the thousands of marketplace sales and updates I’ve given over the years. Thank for having fun, playing fair and filing feedback.”

Others have gone on one last spending spree, buying games and DLC set to disappear from sale forever.

It’s worth noting that despite this shutdown, you can redownload previously owned titles and DLCs, buy backwards compatible games on the Xbox One and Series storefront, and still play online on Xbox 360. So, only games unavailable via backwards compatibility on Xbox One / Series and Xbox 360-era content such as avatars, icons, and themes are gone forever.

Alas, digital preservation evangelists are again proven correct.

Ahead of the shutdown, Microsoft-owned video game developer Double Fine offered Xbox 360 owners free digital codes for Kinect Party, the sequel to Happy Action Theater. The Psychonauts and Brütal Legend developer warned Xbox 360 players that they should download any games ahead of the closure. Because Xbox 360 Kinect is not supported by subsequent Xbox hardware, Kinect Party is one of the games lost forever amid this shutdown.

And in a nod to concern from some quarters that Microsoft's closure of the Xbox 360 Marketplace would have a significant impact on video game preservation, Double Fine tweeted: “Alas, digital preservation evangelists are again proven correct.”

X/Twitter user @Kalyoshika provided a helpful list of video games that haven’t survived the shutdown. It includes the likes of The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, Death Tank, and Diabolical Pitch.

Do you have any fond memories of the Xbox 360 Marketplace? Did you buy anything last minute before it was lost forever? Let us know in the comments.

Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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