So, after almost two decades, Microsoft has announced the closure of the Xbox 360 digital store. Yep, from July 29th 2024, the old Xbox 360 store will shut down on Xbox 360 consoles and the web, bringing its 19-year run to an end. However, this is by no means the end for buying digital Xbox & Xbox 360 games, as Microsoft has clarified.
Basically, all of the original Xbox and Xbox 360 content that has been brought over to the 'modern' Xbox store will still be available to purchase following the closure of the old storefront. This shutdown is specific to the old style Xbox 360 store - and most backwards compatible content has been brought over to the new version of the Xbox store at this stage.
"There is no impact to purchasing or playing backward-compatible Xbox 360 titles. After July 29, 2024, you will still be able to purchase hundreds of great backward-compatible Xbox 360 and Original Xbox games and DLC on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox.com. We believe in celebrating gaming’s rich history and have worked hard to preserve as many games as possible through our backward-compatibility program."
However, there may be certain backwards compatible titles that are not purchasable via the new-style storefront. Microsoft has made an effort to bring as many over as possible in recent years, but, some content may have got lost in the shuffle during that process. If there is anything backwards compatible and stranded on the old storefront, we'd expect it to disappear for good next July.
Of course, any content you've already purchased that's tied to your account will still be accessible to re-download - regardless of whether it came from the old marketplace or not. This closure is only related to purchasing content you don't already own.
We hope that clears things up a little bit! In the meantime, we're going to scour that old Xbox 360 storefront to see what might be worth picking up prior to the July 2024 shutdown.