It's coming to the end of an era for early Xbox Live subscribers as Microsoft confirmed that Xbox Live functionality will cease for original Xbox games on April 15.

Current subscribers to the service will have their accounts terminated to ensure they don't pay for another year of the service, and on April 15th they'll no longer be able to access online support for all Xbox games, or those Xbox Original games purchased via Xbox 360.

Xbox Live's Major Nelson said: "We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features.

"While I can’t comment on the specifics, this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community."

More features for the current Xbox Live service are expected to be revealed at either X10 this week, or E3 in the summer.