Phil Spencer, head of the Xbox Division, has officially announced that Microsoft will no longer be producing Xbox 360 consoles. Support for the console will continue, but console production will now cease.
Spencer stated,
Xbox 360 means a lot to everyone in Microsoft. And while we’ve had an amazing run, the realities of manufacturing a product over a decade old are starting to creep up on us. Which is why we have made the decision to stop manufacturing new Xbox 360 consoles. We will continue to sell existing inventory of Xbox 360 consoles, with availability varying by country
It really is the end of an era for a console that had a pretty shaky start. Anyone out there old enough to remember the RROD failures that forced Microsoft to offer free repairs? I do, because I had to send my 360 in after it red-ringed playing the first Assassins Creed.
Still, the console ended up doing gangbusters for Microsoft and managed to rack up some pretty impressive stats along the way:
- 78 billion gaming hours played
- Nearly 486 billion Gamerscore on 27 billion achievements
- Over 25 billion hours spent in apps
Spencer also laid out the plans for future 360 support that include:
- Xbox 360 owners will continue to receive Xbox Live services for their console, such as online multiplayer gaming and parties, access to the apps they use today, and Games with Gold and Deals with Gold.
- Xbox Live servers that support Xbox 360 services will also remain online and active. Our Xbox 360 fans can continue to play their favorite games with the full support of Xbox Live.
- Gamers will also be able to continue to buy over 4,000 Xbox 360 games or Xbox 360 accessories at retail and through our Xbox 360 store online, while supplies last.
- Any Xbox 360 hardware will still be supported at xbox.com/support.
- And Xbox One owners will be able to continue to enjoy available Xbox 360 games through Xbox One Backward Compatibility – at no additional cost.
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