Microsoft caused a lot of fuss yesterday when it was announced that over 40 games were being removed from the Xbox 360 marketplace beginning on February 7th, 2023, and that's definitely bad news for a few titles in particular.
Although many of the games in the list have since transitioned to the modern Xbox Store, and therefore will continue to be available for purchase in the future on newer consoles, some of them are going to potentially disappear forever in digital form even though they're backwards compatible on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
Before we get into this any further, here's the list of affected games that may potentially be delisted forever (in digital form) across Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in the near future:
- Blood of the Werewolf
- Counter-Strike: GO
- Daytona USA
- Defense Grid
- Eets: Chowdown (Not backwards compatible)
- Final Fight: Double Impact (FF is available in Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle)
- Iron Brigade
- Jeremy McGrath's Offroad
- Jet Set Radio
- Left 4 Dead (Disc Version Available)
- Left 4 Dead 2 (Disc Version Available)
- Mutant Blobs Attack
- Prince of Persia 2008 (Disc Version Available)
- R.U.S.E. (Disc Version Available)
- Sega Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co.
- Skate 2 (Disc Version Available)
- Spelunky
- The Orange Box (Disc Version Available)
Microsoft has stated that the disc versions of backwards compatible titles will continue to function in the future, which we're hoping (and expecting) to include the likes of Left 4 Dead and Skate 2, although the wording has been a bit confusing over the past 24 hours. If you have an Xbox Series S, there's unfortunately no method of using physical copies due to the lack of a disc tray.
"A number of game titles and associated add-ons will be removed from the Xbox 360 Marketplace in a select set of regions per title. These removals will start on February 7, 2023. Once purchased, you can always redownload these games or any other previously purchased games from your Xbox 360 Download History."
"These titles will no longer be purchasable on the Xbox 360 Store only, and titles that are available to be purchased on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S Stores will remain purchasable. You will still be able to play discs or previously downloaded games on your Xbox 360 and modern consoles if they are backwards compatible titles."
So, how do you buy these games before February 7th? You're going to need to access the old Xbox 360 marketplace either on an Xbox 360 itself, or a web browser. Then you can simply purchase the game via that method, and if successful, you should find it in your games library on your Xbox One, Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S. We've provided a detailed guide about how to do this elsewhere on Pure Xbox, which you'll find a link to below.
Keep in mind that we don't know whether Microsoft will ultimately decide to add these games to the modern Xbox Store over the next week, and therefore make them purchasable in the future. The problem we're facing at the moment is that they're all stuck on the old marketplace, despite being backwards compatible on the new systems.
Hopefully we might get more information from Microsoft as we approach February 7th!