The original Xbox Live service launched in November 2002 and has continued to support Xbox titles through the launch of the Xbox 360, even including games played online via backwards-compatibility or downloaded using the Xbox Originals program. Today however, Microsoft announced that Live support for original Xbox titles in all their forms will end April 2010.
“On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox Live service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals,” wrote Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten. “I want to start by saying this isn't a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox Live community.”
The company will stop taking Xbox Live subscriptions from members that only use the original Xbox and auto-renewals will be disabled. The reasoning for this move was vague, but extra features (which could include the long asked for larger friends list) were mentioned .
“Your Xbox Live community has grown to 23 million strong,” wrote Whitten. “And as we look down the road, we'll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games. We will contact the Xbox Live members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your Live messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process.”
“We'll share more details soon, but in the meantime I want to assure you that the best is yet to come for Xbox Live,” added Whitten.
5 Comments
February 5, 2010
I didn't even know they were still supporting the original Xbox, I wonder if this will even affect that many people.
February 5, 2010
It's probably a small group, but what's more annoying is that it's not just original Xbox, but also for Xbox 1 games playable on 360. I don't know enough about the XBL infrastructure to say how much it would cost MS to keep the service going for original Xbox titles, but this could cause some more bad blood among fans.
February 5, 2010
ah well, was bound to happen wasnt it. if you wanna take part you gotta have the latest things out, thats life aint it folks.
February 5, 2010
I barely play my original Xbox live games online but this still sucks. It also means I need to download all the original Xbox dlc I can before it gets removed.
While I knew they were going to do this eventually, I really hope that the main reason isn't just to add more friends to the friends list. That would be pretty stupid because most people don't even play with all of the peeps on their firends list now.
February 10, 2010
get ready people cause when microsoft launches their next console you only have a few years afterwards before all your 360 games go offline...