Xbox 360 will lose 200+ games after store shutdown – some are already gone-Michael Beckwith-Entertainment – Metro

Someone is buying up every single one of these games as we speak just to preserve them (Picture: Microsoft)

Although the Xbox 360 store isn’t shutting down till next July, a handful of original Xbox games have already been delisted.

Yesterday’s announcement that Microsoft will shut down the Xbox 360 store in 2024 was disappointing but inevitable news. For as much as Xbox boss Phil Spencer champions video game preservation, it was never likely that Microsoft would keep a digital storefront for a nearly 18-year-old console active forever.

The Xbox’s backwards compatibility library means most original Xbox and Xbox 360 games will remain available for purchase even after the shutdown, such as the older Call Of Duty games, but some will slip through the cracks.

It’s been calculated that that at least 220 games will be lost once the store closes and some may never be seen again.

This is according to VGC, although it admits that several of the listed games have since received re-releases or upgraded versions on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, as well as other platforms such as PlayStation and the Nintendo Switch.

Even so, that leaves a lot of digital-only Xbox games that will be lost to time and will only live on through customers who have bought them.

In fact, some games appear to have been purged already, with zero warning. Remember when Microsoft delisted 44 games from the Xbox 360 store in February? It seems a further eight – all of which released for the original Xbox – have been removed too.

The eight in question are:

Armed And Dangerous

Grabbed By The Ghoulies

Indiana Jones And The Emperor’s Tomb

Sphinx And The Cursed Mummy

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict

Admittedly, most of them are still available through other means. Splinter Cell: Double Agent’s Xbox 360 version can still be purchased, and its inclusion in the backwards compatibility library means it’ll survive next year’s purge.

Also, Grabbed By The Ghoulies is bundled with the Rare Replay collection, which remains available via Xbox Game Pass or as a standalone purchase.

The rest can be bought via Steam with the exception of Unreal Championship 2 (which only ever launched for Xbox, so that is effectively gone) and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, which is now only readily available through the PlayStation 3 store.

Still, these are not obscure games and now their original Xbox versions are gone forever.

More: Trending

Still, it’s strange that Microsoft issued no warning about these games’ removal and, according to ResetEra user denverchickennuggets, they’ve been missing since April.

A verified Xbox developer known as OscarK has since promised to look into the situation and see if these delistings were a mistake or not.

These games will probably be fine, but anything that only ever launched digitally will become lost media (pic: Microsoft)

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.

MORE : 87% of older video games are currently impossible to buy anywhere reveals report

MORE : Nintendo criticised by preservation group for destroying video game history

MORE : ‘We made the wrong decision’ says Sony over PS3 and PS Vita online store closures

Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Entertainment – MetroRead More