After 10 and a half years, and surpassing 84 million units sold up to 2014, Microsoft today announced that it will stop manufacturing the Xbox 360. It rapidly gained popularity at the time, and gained even more support when Sony’s equivalent released a year later was priced much higher.
Xbox 360 means a lot to everyone in Microsoft. 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.
We know that many of you became gamers on Xbox 360 and are still active, so it’s important to us that while the overall Xbox gaming experience will evolve and grow, we will continue to support the platform you love in multiple ways:
-
Owners will continue to receive Xbox Live services for their console, such as online multiplayer gaming and parties, access to the apps they use today, and Games with Gold and Deals with Gold.
-
Xbox Live servers that support Xbox 360 services will also remain online and active. Our fans can continue to play their favorite games with the full support of Xbox Live.
-
Gamers will also be able to continue to buy over 4,000 Xbox 360 games or Xbox 360 accessories at retail and through our Xbox 360 store online, while supplies last.
-
Any Xbox 360 hardware will still be supported at xbox.com/support.
-
And Xbox One owners will be able to continue to enjoy available Xbox 360 games through Xbox One Backward Compatibility – at no additional cost.
Released back in 2005, the Xbox 360 initially had to contend with lack of supplies and a high failure rate of its hardware, specifically dubbed the ‘Red Ring of Death’ which were LEDs around the power LED turning red, signaling an issue with specific hardware:
Microsoft has never officially released any information indicating the true cause of the problem. Therefore, any information available to the public has come only from third party analyses, but it did prompt Microsoft to extend the manufacturer’s warranty of its unit to three years for hardware failure problems that generate a “General Hardware Failure” error report.
Read the full announcement here.
