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The end of an era for Xbox Live - service closes after 8 years

by Steven Williamson on 8 February 2010, 09:28

Tags: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Xbox 360

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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.


HEXUS Forums :: 4 Comments

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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.
My translation from PR-speak …

“We aren't making enough money from this any more”.
Rightly or Wrongly, i wonder if this has anything to do with £ figures since they banned all those modified consoles ?

makes you wonder, but i would imagine they would have had a massive downturn in turnover on the “Live” feature since this happened.
This also shows you why “buying” a product from one of these services is little more than a short term lease.
Though having said that, with the prices of 360s now, I have no issue with older consoles being replaced/end of line.

The comparable cost I would have spent on PC upgrades to play the range of games available for the consoles is an order of magnitude higher than I would spend replacing the console once…