A message that the Xbox 360 Marketplace will close in May was an ‘error’, Microsoft says

Microsoft has stated that a support message warning players that the Xbox 360 Marketplace would be closing soon was an error.

Reddit user Gpro2005 spotted that when searching Xbox‘s support pages for news on the Marketplace, one of the search results showed a message warning that it was closing down soon.

“We will be closing the Xbox 360 Marketplace over the next year,” it read, “so we encourage you to purchase any 360 games or DLC by May 2023.”

Clicking on the article would reportedly take players to a different message informing of the planned removal of certain digital Xbox 360 games, as confirmed by Microsoft earlier this week.

However, Microsoft has since claimed that the message was an error.

Xbox global product marketing manager Bree Adams told The Verge: “This message was posted in error and we can confirm the Xbox 360 marketplace will not close in May 2023.

“As a reminder, beginning on February 7, 2023, a limited set of games, add-ons, and in-game content will no longer be purchasable in select markets via the Xbox 360 Store.”

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced plans to delist various games and associated DLC from the Xbox 360 marketplace this month.

Games set to be removed from the digital marketplace include entries in the Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty, Dark Souls, Far Cry, Left 4 Dead, Mass Effect, Prince of Persia, Skate, Splinter Cell and Witcher series.

Further reading

10

Microsoft announces plans to delist various games from the Xbox 360 marketplace

The titles and associated DLC will be removed in early February

Microsoft has noted that once purchased, players can always redownload games from their Xbox 360 Download History.

It also confirmed that these titles would only be removed from the Xbox 360 Marketplace, and that any titles currently available to buy on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S stores would remain on sale.

However, as not every Xbox 360 game is backwards compatible (and therefore not all of them are on the current gen Xbox store), some will no longer be available for purchase anywhere.