200+ Digital-Only Games Set To Be Impacted By Xbox 360 Store Closure

Vigilante 8 was an awesome game on the N64. I never owned a 360 but always hoped Vigilante 8 Arcade would somehow get on the next gen...

I guess MS doesn't believe in video game preservation after all 😕

@GhanaViking Oh heck yeah! Vigilante 8: Second Offense was my go-to rental when nothing else new was coming out to rent.

This is some serious moral gymnastics to go high ground and complain about a 18 year old virtual store closing. Many of these have modern versions or are part of compilations like Ecco the Dolphin or Rez HD.

@DennisReynolds while it would be nice to have all these games available forever, I don’t agree that Microsoft, Sony etc should be the ones responsible for preserving games from third parties. Was it not just recently that Activision claimed that they couldn’t find the code for the Transformers games as they couldn’t remember which PC they were saved on? Surely it should be the responsibility of the rights holders to preserve the source code for the games, not the platform holders?

@DennisReynolds Considering that MS doesn't own those games, the code, the licences etc its out of their control. Yes they can try and build emulation but ultimately, its not on MS to 'preserve' other Publishers games etc.

You can still buy and play games on your 360 (if you have one) for now - the 'Console' these games were made and published for. If the company wants to 'sell' you a version specifically for current hardware, they will.

Its not just 'digital' games as MANY Physical games are not playable unless you can find a working 'used' Hardware device to play the game - hardware that has been 'obsolete' for decades. Also, you may not have the option to buy those games anymore as they no longer make those games. You may get lucky trawling round looking for specific 'used' games but you can't play games released 30yrs ago on Consoles today - not unless you buy/own the 30+ yr Old hardware and Physical media it came on as you can't buy these 'new' today.

Point is, Its not up to MS to 'preserve' ALL games released on their Hardware, let alone any that didn't. All they can do is 'preserve' their own Games. Its up to other Publishers to 'preserve' their games (if they want to).

This would be a good opportunity for MS to bundle all this dross together in a package a la Rare Replay.

@Dusk_Actual MS owns Rare. They do not own the companies that published these games.

@Cashews I don’t care

@Dusk_Actual Neither does Microsoft.

@BAMozzy I agree its not up to MS but then why has Phil been going on about it for years then? Didn't Phil make a dig on Twitter when Sony were planning on shutting the PS3 store? Wanna know what really annoyed me the other night? I really fancied playing the 360 game Fuel as lately i've been playing a lot of The Crew 2 and Forza 5 and i fancied playing an old fav of mine that's kinda like that, went to buy it on the store and found that while it can be played on Series consoles its delisted on the store and well i own a SS. Doing some digging and its amazing how many Xbox/360 games are delisted and are going to be dislisted, BC on a SS one day for a brand new owner will be something they can barely use because only a handful of games will be on the store to buy. MS need to start actually doing what they say, i get licencing gets in the way but that doesn't why a couple month backs a bunch of Splinter Cell games were removed (thankfully i bought every entry early this year when they were on sale) or The Orange Box. I refuse to believe MS can't find a way to keep at least some of these games from being removed forever.

@Cashews I mean…I can’t really argue w that.

@DennisReynolds when Sony shut down it's store they also shut off upgrades and being able to download past purchases. Completely different deal imo.

Nintendo and MS is giving us a year notice - and they are allowing updates, patches, old purchases to be downloaded for the foreseeable future. We can't expect MS to port every crummy game over from their most popular system. I mean, I don't.

I owned a lot of these games and they were terrible.

Except REZ. MS not going hard after REZ, not bc'ing REZ annoys me greatly.

@Xbox_Dashboard
What a stupid thing to say, some of these games are lost to time, and according to you if you bring attention to this, you are "complaining" or "claiming high ground" lmao. Why shouldn't I be allowed to voice my opinion about this? Don't you think it's a bit sad to see some of these games lost and never be playable again?

@DennisReynolds Its still up to the Publisher of those games and licences etc etc that these 'companies' are in control of.

Those games were 'licensed' and Published for Xbox 360 - not Series S regardless. The games that do 'work' via BC run via 360 emulation that MS themselves built and 'control' ensuring the games work as expected and 'publishers' are happy they work as expected and the games 'think' they are running on a 360 because it is running on an 'emulated' 360 - not the Series S - its software running software essentially.

The Xbox 360 'store' is being closed because there is not enough people buying games on the 360 store to 'justify' the costs involved in keeping it open. Therefore you still have 'time' to buy Games released on 360 to play on 360 before the store closes.

MS had little/no plans for 'preservation' before Phil Spencer took over after the disaster launch of the XB1 - up until then, each 'Console' cycle was seen as a 'fresh' start with NO BC at all and it was Phil that 'pushed' to find a way to preserve what they 'could' from that era, and the era before, and why BC and 'preservation' are 'buzz words' today.

Thank Phil Spencer he saved as many as they have because before he took over, BC wasn't a thing and you certainly couldn't play Xbox 360 games on your Xbox One until after Phil decided it was important to 'preserve' games and found a way to make BC on XB1 a possibility in the first place.

So don't criticise something he had NO control over and it wasn't even considered 'important' during that era to 'preserve' them.

@Cashews No Sony planned on doing what MS are doing, you can still download past purchases and get patches you just can't buy stuff.

@BAMozzy I criticise Phil talking bull as usual. It was only weeks ago he proudly said MS believes in preservation yet again. Maybe if he kept his mouth shut and stopped with the PR bull he always does i wouldn't be so harsh. As i said i'm pretty sure he made a dig at Sony doing this exact thing a couple of years back.

@DennisReynolds Again, as it seems you are incapable of understanding, don't 'criticise' Phil for what's happening with the '360' era of games as he wasn't even head of Microsoft during that period of time and ios 'responsible' for the fact ANY games from that era can be played on 'modern' hardware today.

He can't 'preserve' EVERY game, especially NOT those MS doesn't OWN so take it out on those Publishers for NOT bringing them back or get off the computer, go out and BUY a 360 and PLAY those games on the Hardware they were designed, built, licensed and published to be played on.

If you haven't 'bothered' by now, you can't be that bothered. Good luck playing any PS3 game on your PS5 and the fact ANY preservation has taken place in recent years is because of Phil - why Series S can play ALL the XB1 era games, why Sony had to build PS4 BC into the PS5 because before Phil took over, Game preservation was NOT a thing at all.

You can 'preserve' those games IF they are important to you by BUYING the Hardware they were released on and BUYING the games before they close the Store - its that simple. Just like if I want to play the '360' games not on BC, I can on my 360 or my PS3 games on my PS3 long after the 'store' closes!!!

@Whar_f it's the third? article on this site just about the Xbox, let alone all the others like the Wii U and PS3 in the sister sites closing Virtual Stores. Yes its a hot-topic. But acting like Xbox owes us something after running what is possibly the greatest succesful Virtual store for nearly two decades is asinine on it's best day. Complain all you want, I dont care. Just like you shouldn't care if I disagree. This site certainly loves the clicks and stirring the pot.

Actually … bundling ( some of ) them would be a nice move. I know they got licenses / rights and stuff but giving out some special license to use that particular game in a bundle could generate at least some cash for the owners of that IP for a game that otherwise would be gone forever and will never generate any money anymore.
There must be a way that it can be profitable for everyone and not “lose” older games.
I do not expect every 360 will still be working after another 18 years.

@Sol76 The 'owner(s)' of the IP, the code, the licence, the assets etc is the only one that can 'legally' bring those games back. Its why a game like Goldeneye took so long to bring back because of who owned different 'rights'. Rare owned some aspects, Nintendo owned other aspects and to complicate matters, it was a 3rd Party Licenced game with licenced music too.

The Publishers, like EA, ABK, Ubisoft etc could re-release their 360 games - either in a bundle or individually as they 'own' them - much like Rockstar released RDR for Switch/PS4. That's assuming they still have the 'rights' to everything. During the 360 era, a lot of games used 'licensed' music/brands etc - licensed for a 'set' time or for a 'specific' Platform (360/PS3). For example Branded Cars in racing games and Soundtracks that licences have long expired. They can still 'sell' digitally on 360 because the Licence was for the 'life' of the 360 and only 360 - hence games that do work, work by running on a 'virtual' 360.

It can be 'profitable' to bring those games forward - as we see from many remakes, remasters and 'ports' of games to bring them to 'newer' hardware. Some games aren't worth the effort/cost to bring forward so 'disappear'.

Its still up to the Owners of IP's to decide whether or not their game is 'preserved'. For some, it maybe better to 'sell' a newer game with newer graphics, game-play etc - like Sports/racing games for example.

Can't they put NBA Jam Fire Edition back in store?

My 360 still works. I may have a look and make some purchases.

If only delisted games like the Wallace and gromit ones could come back.

I wish MS wouldn't do this of course but they are a business after all. Even after this, I still think they are currently the most friendly in terms of preservation with Nintendo being the absolute worst.

Still, MS considered to be most preservation-friendly, we are definitely in a bad place when it comes to this in general.

A few dreamcast type titles are also on there like Under defeat and Thunderwolves, space channel 5. Others are Army of two: 40 days and cartel , Street fighter HD. Tower games. Space channel 5. Nfl Blitz. Last remnant