Xbox Live to shutdown... on original Xbox console and games
| Date Posted | Author |
|---|---|
| 6th February 2010 | Matt Bailey |
The Xbox Live service for the original Xbox will be ending on April 15th, Microsoft announced this week. It's been over 4 years since the Xbox 360 launched, so to see support drop for a machine that launched nearly 8 years ago isn't surprisingly. However, the biggest implication is that this means all games for the original Xbox, including those playable on the Xbox 360, will lose their Xbox Live support. Most prominent among these is Halo 2, which still features a popular online community over 5 years on from its release, and despite the releases of Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST.
Microsoft claim that "it is clear [the shutdown] will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox Live community", though we're not so sure people using the service on the original Xbox would agree. However, there should be benefits for Xbox 360 owners; the reason for the shutdown is to make changes that are incompatible with the older games. We suspect this includes the 100 friends limit, an issue often cited by Microsoft as being imposed by compatibility problems. We expect to see the launch of some new Xbox Live features very soon after that cut-off date.
