Microsoft has sadly announced that all Xbox 360 Halo titles will be taken offline in December 2021. The online components of Halo: Reach, Halo 4, Halo 3, and more will be taken offline, including multiplayer. Given that maintaining these servers takes time and effort that could be allocated towards other projects, this isn’t much of a surprise – but it is a sad day for those of us who grew up playing endless games of Gravity Hammers Only on a user-created map on Forge. Thankfully, those who are looking to spend their cash elsewhere can do so at the fun casinos at this location: https://casinoszonderregistratie.net/
The announcement came via Halo Waypoint, who had this to say about the legacy services being taken offline:
“Maintaining these legacy services today requires significant time and resources which directly impacts the studio’s ability to support current and future projects like Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo Infinite. Meanwhile, the month over month usage of these legacy Xbox 360 game services continues to dwindle, creating an even greater imbalance between the time and work required to maintain vs. the net impact to the overall Halo community.
“That’s not to say we don’t value and care about everyone who plays Halo – we absolutely do. But, as with any business, our teams must continually weigh needs against available resources (time, people, expertise, etc.) and prioritise on areas and opportunities that yield the greatest impact.”
“As these games continue to age, and as improved modern replacements for many of these experiences have moved to the forefront, less and less people are investing time in the original legacy titles. Digital sales have greatly slowed and physical sales of these legacy Xbox 360 titles were halted back in 2018. Every cycle spent maintaining and supporting Xbox 360 legacy services is time and energy not spent on the future of Halo.”
The good news is that you still have a year to play these to your heart’s content. So feel free to break out that Xbox 360 and pretend it’s 2007 again.
