Summary
- Xbox 360 Store has been removed from the Dashboard, ending the era of buying digital games directly on the console.
- Despite Marketplace closure, Xbox Live still works smoothly, earning Achievements and backward-compatible games still accessible.
- New Dashboard update brings a cleaner look but marks the end of an era for Xbox 360 fans. Hope remains for a final sleek update.
The Xbox 360 Store has been removed from the new Xbox 360 Dashboard. As the Xbox 360 Marketplace has recently shut down, the era of purchasing digital games on the console has come to an end. While some titles remain due to its backward compatibility from the current generation of gaming, users will not be able to buy any kind of content using the system itself.
While the Xbox 360 isn't the pioneer of digital gaming, the Xbox 360 Marketplace was iconic and helped usher in a new age in gaming. The Xbox 360 Store became home to not just full retail releases, but also Xbox Live Arcade and Xbox Live Indie Games as well. Even through the release of both the Xbox One and the Xbox Series X/S, the 360 store had remained active for users, which allowed those who owned the older system to still enjoy titles they wished to own. However, it seems the Xbox 360 Marketplace's closure has prompted Microsoft to update the 360's look as well.
Twitter user Stallion83 shared the new Xbox 360 Dashboard, which sees the disappearance of the Xbox 360 Store. While the old dashboard home screen used to have tabs reflecting Bing, home, social, movies & TV, apps, and settings, the updated one looks and feels bare. The only remaining tabs from the aforementioned ones are home, social, and settings. This is a huge change from the previously full home screen. While some users have commented that it feels and looks cleaner, others lamented that the new screen could use premium themes to change its look. However, as the Xbox 360 store is closed, fans may need to rely on themes they own.
What Can Fans Do With Their Xbox 360 After The Store's Closure?
One worry that fans had was Xbox Live usability. Surprisingly, Stallion83 confirmed that Xbox Live still worked like a charm and that games which were purchased digitally still work with no problems. Xbox 360 Achievements can still be earned, and still contribute to the Gamerscore. Xbox 360 Games with backward compatibility released on newer consoles can still be purchased using an Xbox Series X/S, which should allow some digital activity on the system. Fans may still download previous purchases using the download history. As one commenter shared, some games like King's Quest, which need add-ons and compatibility packs to work, can still be bought.
While this serves as a stark reminder that the Xbox 360's support is slowly diminishing, a few commenters raised some positive notes regarding the new look. Many fans agreed that ads on Xbox are bothersome, and that at least their disappearance on Xbox 360 is a huge improvement. Still, the shared sentiment is that the new change does mark the end of an era. While highly unlikely, some users hope that Microsoft still gives one final update to the dashboard so that things will be more sleek and easily accessible.
The Xbox 360 was Microsoft's successor to its original Xbox video game console. The seventh-generation device was built as a direct competitor to consoles like Sony's PS3 and Nintendo's Wii.
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