Microsoft will be removing a number of fan-favorite games from the Xbox 360 Marketplace next week. There will be a total of 46 games removed, making them impossible to own for Xbox 360 owners who haven’t upgraded to newer hardware.
According to Xbox, some of the games that will be removed include Blue Dragon, Jet Set Radio, the first two Left 4 Dead games, and The Witcher 2, just to name a few. Gamers that still have an Xbox 360 will need to download these games soon, as they will be delisted by February 7.
The good news is that some of these games will still be available in the Xbox One and Xbox Series Marketplace. Some of these are obvious, like the Darksiders and Assassin’s Creed titles, while others are less so, like Blue Dragon or The Orange Box.
Unfortunately, some of these games aren’t purchasable through the Xbox One or Xbox Series stores, so 360 owners will need to download them soon. Thankfully, if players have already purchased these games, they will be able to re-download them with no issues. That seems to be the go-to solution for these stores closing down but it’s still sad to see.
While it’s not all bad news, the fact that Microsoft is delisting so many Xbox 360 games is still disappointing to see. In recent years, Xbox became the cool brand for game preservation, as a number of 6th and 7th-generation games are still playable on an Xbox Series system. Removing some of them from an older console goes against that, even if it makes sense to move on.
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Obviously, this isn’t the worst news in the world, since most of the 360 Marketplace games are still available for purchase. Should Microsoft end up removing more games from this store, which is starting to become more possible, here’s hoping they give players more than a week’s notice next time.