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 a bunch of titles going super-cheap 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, with Video Games Chronicle estimating around 220 will essentially disappear in their digitial Xbox 360 forms forever.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though, as any digital 360 games you already own will continue to be available to redownload if you still own a 360. Many titles will also remain playable on the Xbox One family of consoles and Xbox Series X/S provided they’re backwards compatible.
It’s definitely worth checking out the Xbox 360 Marketplace while you still can, as games from some legendary series are going for a steal. Out of those estimated 220 games that are set to digitially disappear if you don't buy them today, here are the 7 I'd recommend.
Mainly because they're all good and, in most cases, absurdly cheap...
Best final day Xbox 360 Marketplace deals — Quick Links
- Burnout Crash: $0.49 @ Xbox 360 Marketplace
- Mighty No. 9: $0.99 @ Xbox 360 Marketplace
- Resident Evil 0: $1.99 @ Xbox 360 Marketplace
- Resident Evil: $1.99 @ Xbox 360 Marketplace
- Trials Fusion: $3.99 @ Xbox 360 Marketplace
- Fez: $9.99 @ Xbox 360 Marketplace
- Rez HD: $9.99 @ Xbox 360 Marketplace
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.
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.
