Though it’s yet to reveal the exact time it will shut down, Microsoft is closing the Xbox 360 Marketplace today. That means you’ll no longer be able to buy digital copies from the Redmont giant’s official store. It’s a sad day for fans of classic Xbox games, but at least Microsoft has discounted a bunch of titles before the Marketplace closes forever at some point today.
The company announced the Xbox 360 Store would close last August, and the sad day is finally upon us (thanks, Android Authority). It’s not all doom and gloom, though, as any digital 360 games you already own will still be available to download and play on the Xbox One family of consoles and Xbox Series X/S provided they’re backwards compatible.
It’s also important to note you’ll still be able to play digital editions of Xbox 360 games on Microsoft’s newer machines through their respective online storefronts. And of course, you can still buy physical editions of 360 titles and play them on your Xbox Series S etc, again, as long as they support backwards compatibility.
To Microsoft’s credit, the Xbox division has done some sterling work in this regard over the past few years. A large number of OG Xbox and 360 games not only work on the company’s current-gen machines, but in many cases, they’ve received either frame rate bumps or even 4K resolution updates.
Get in on the deal
It’s definitely worth checking out the Xbox 360 Marketplace while you still can, as games from some legendary series are going for super cheap.
The likes of the superb Resident Evil 4 is $1.99, while Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pai is only $4.99— and that’s one of the best open-world games of all time. The excellent DMC HD Collectio is $1.99 and is well worth checking out. Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend my favorite Danish brick-based game ever, LEGO Jurassic World is $4.99, and the awesome Batman: Arkham City is $4.99, too.
Though this is a sad day for fans of retro gaming (if you can call the Xbox 360 a true retro machine quite yet), at least you can buy some genuinely great titles on the Marketplace for at least a few more hours.
Let’s just hope Microsoft keeps it live for as long as possible today. Xbox 360 Marketplace, you had a good run. Rest in peace.