Microsoft is delisting nearly 50 Xbox 360 games from the Xbox 360 store on Feb. 7, 2023, though thanks to backward compatibility, they aren’t all lost forever. Xbox made the announcement in a brief support post with a roundup of delisted games for each region.
In the U.S., Microsoft is removing Assassin’s Creed 3, Assassin’s Creed 4, Dark Souls, Mass Effect 2, and Blue Dragon, alongside The Witcher 2, Prince of Persia, Knights of the Old Republic 2, and Lost Odyssey. If you purchase these from the Xbox 360 store before the February date, you can download the games at any point even after they’re delisted.
Physical copies of the games will also still work on any Xbox console that supports 360 discs. If the game has a backward compatible- or enhanced version available on the Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S stores, those will also remain available for purchase after Feb. 7, 2023.
Microsoft provided no reason why these games will no longer be available and hasn’t yet said whether the eventual plan is to shut down the Xbox 360 store altogether. However, the Xbox 360 is just two years shy of turning 20. Most platform holders shut their legacy servers and stores down after a new console launches, so the fact that the 360 shop is still open at all is something of a surprise.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
[mm-video type=video id=01gr713eeqbqnw2n511e playlist_id=none player_id=01gp1x90emjt3n6txc image=]
[listicle id=1942971]