Goodbye to Halo Online Services from Xbox 360. That’s right, after the year of ups and downs that the franchise has had, Xbox has made this decision. While the good news has come from the move from Halo: Master Chief Collection to PC, Halo Infinite and its delay have been at the center of many of the bad news. However, the confirmation that Halo Infinite is coming in late 2021, one more year of waiting, is at least already a clear route for the game. Now it is confirmed that Xbox will end Halo services on the Xbox 360 platform. With a new generation of consoles comes a goodbye to a previous generation.
In an extensive publication of 343 Industries blog, it is confirmed that Halo on Xbox 360 will be discontinued in December 2021. What that means is that all Halo games on Xbox 360 will have their online services discontinued. Individual games will still be playable, but features including online matchmaking and other online services will be limited or disabled entirely.
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Goodbye to Halo Online Services from Xbox 360
With this initiates what 343 calls Phase Two of this process. Phase one involved transferring a variety of data from Halo Xbox 360 to Halo: Master Chief Collection which is widely available on modern platforms. Phase two begins with informing fans about the upcoming Halo online service outage from Xbox 360. Along with that, however, comes two other things. On the one hand, Halo titles on Xbox 360 will no longer be available digitally. And two, Halo DLC on Xbox 360 is still obtainable for free.
Phase 3 will involve further disconnections from Halo on Xbox 360. This will take place throughout 2021. Finally, Phase 4 in December 2021 will see Xbox 360 services officially shut down. No specific closing date is provided, but it is confirmed to be at least one year from today, December 18. Final details will be shared closer to the date in question. As justification for the closure, 343 cites his focus on his ambitious vision for Halo Infinite, as well as his “ongoing and evolving” plan to grow Halo: Master Chief Collection.
Both are clearly ambitious endeavors, especially if Halo 5 ends up being included in the Master Chief Collection next year. It’s nostalgic considering how many Halo games were released on Xbox 360, especially after a generation of Xbox One that had relatively few Halo releases. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Spartan Assault, Halo Reach, Halo Wars and Halo 4 were available on Xbox 360. And although their functions and Xbox 360 Halo online services can take a year to shut down, the memories of Halo fans are sure to remain rich.
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