A short guide on surviving the closure of the Xbox 360 Store

Xbox 360 Store will be closed after 18 years of activity.

by Flavius Floare

Flavius is a writer and a media content producer with a particular interest in technology, gaming, media, film and storytelling. He enjoys spending time in nature and at… read more

Updated on August 18, 2023

It’s official: Xbox 360 Store is coming to an end next year, on July 29, 2024, according to Microsoft. You should also know that the Microsoft Movies & TV app will no longer be functional on Xbox 360 as well, on that date, which means you won’t be able to watch TV or movies on your Xbox 360.

On July 29, 2024, Xbox will stop supporting the ability to purchase new games, DLC, and other entertainment content from the Xbox 360 Store on the console and the Xbox 360 Marketplace (marketplace.xbox.com)

Xbox

However, the Redmond-based tech giant is making sure that the Xbox 360 Store closure won’t impact you so much, as there are multiple solutions to this. The Xbox 360 Store closure will also not have any impact on your ability to play games on your Xbox 360 console, You’ll still be able to play them.

And if you own an Xbox Series X/S or an Xbox One, then you’ll be able to play your Xbox 360 games via Backwards Compatibility. So, it’s not really the end of an era, per se, but just the end of a part of it.

Truth is, given the fact that Xbox 360 was released almost 18 years ago, the console, which is the most popular one in the Xbox’s history, has become a legendary one. A lot of people are still playing games so, so it’s quite understandable why the Xbox community will see the Xbox 360 Store closure as the end of an era.

But we’ve prepared a short guide for you on how to get ready for it. And you have more than 11 months to do it, so if you take small steps, the Xbox 360 Store closure will hardly affect you when it’s going to happen.

The Xbox 360 Store closure: everything you need to know & do

You’ll still be able to play your Xbox 360 games after July 2024

• Any games that you purchased on your Xbox 360 will still be playable on the console, after the Xbox 360 Store closure, no matter if the purchase was physical or digital.
• You’ll even be able to re-download old games that you purchased and deleted, in case you want to play them again.
• Multiplayer games are also going to be playable long after the Xbox 360 Store closure as long as the publishers still support the online servers, so you don’t need to worry about it.
• You don’t need to worry about your savings and your progress either. Everything will be saved to the cloud, and if you want to continue your progress on Xbox S/X or Xbox One, those saves will transfer over.

You’ll still be able to purchase and play Xbox 360 games

• As long as they support backward compatibility, you should be able to buy and play Xbox 360 games at any time
• A lot of old Xbox 360 games will be enhanced with additional features and improvements if you decide to play them on Xbox Series X/S.
• Xbox 360 games will still be updated, even after the Xbox 360 Store closure. If there are updates for the game, they will prompt and install when you launch the game.

Which items are affected by the Xbox 360 Store closure

According to Xbox, any kind of content distributed via the Xbox 360 Store will no longer be available to purchase after the closure. These include:

• Games
• Trials
• Add-ons
• Avatar items
• Apps
• Gamerpics
• Game trailers
• Videos
• Gamertag changes on Xbox 360
• Xbox subscriptions on Xbox 360
• In-game purchases
• Video content via the Microsoft Movies & TV app

You’ll be able to stream and download TV series and movies that are eligible for the Movies Anywhere app

• All the content that you purchased on your Xbox 360, including TV series and movies will remain in your Xbox 360 library and you’ll be able to stream them
• And if any of the TV series and movies are eligible for the Movies Anywhere app, then you can download and stream them there

At the same time, Microsoft is also offering support for any question that you might have regarding the Xbox 360 Store closure and its impact on your Xbox library.

However, there is still a lot of time until July 2024, and until then you have more than enough time to get ready for the closure.

But what do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.