Microsoft closed the Xbox 360 store on 29 July 2024. Since then, you can’t buy a new game, DLC or movies on the console, but you keep playing everything already on your account, and deleted titles can be downloaded again. Only two things remain unclear: online play, where the publisher of each game decides, and saved games, where two Microsoft pages contradict each other.
What exactly ended on 29 July 2024
Microsoft announced the closure on 17 August 2023 with the post “The Xbox 360 Store Will Close July 2024, But You Can Keep Playing Your Favorite Games”. The text is specific: starting 29 July 2024, Xbox stops supporting the ability to buy new games, DLC and other entertainment content in the Xbox 360 store. Microsoft repeated the same date in its final announcement on 14 May 2024, which came with a last sale on the digital store.
It was purchasing that ended, not the console. You can’t buy new content on the console or through the Xbox 360 marketplace website at marketplace.xbox.com. The Microsoft Movies & TV app was hit separately: it stopped working on Xbox 360, and you can no longer play previously purchased movies and TV shows there. They remain available on Windows 10 and later, on Xbox One and on Xbox Series X|S.
What works and what doesn’t
| Feature | Status after the store closure |
|---|---|
| Playing games bought earlier | Works, the store closure doesn’t affect them |
| Re-downloading a game you deleted | Works |
| DLC bought earlier | Remains available and playable with the original game |
| Cloud saves | Still work |
| Online multiplayer | Continues, but depends on whether the game’s publisher keeps running the servers |
| Buying new games and DLC on Xbox 360 | Not possible, neither on the console nor on marketplace.xbox.com |
| Buying backward-compatible titles | Possible, but on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S or Xbox.com |
| Microsoft Movies & TV on Xbox 360 | Doesn’t work, the content remains on Windows, Xbox One and Series X|S |
The status is valid as of 11 September 2026 and is based on both Microsoft announcements, not on secondhand news.
Nobody is taking away the games you bought
This is the one sentence Microsoft repeated word for word in both announcements: the store closure doesn’t affect your ability to play games and DLC you bought earlier. The license stays on your account, so if you delete a game from the console’s drive to free up space, you can download it again. The same goes for add-ons you bought for it.
In practice, this leads to one piece of advice: look after your account, not the console. Your library is tied to your profile, not to the box under the TV, and that’s exactly why it can be carried forward through Xbox backward compatibility. If you’re in the middle of hunting achievements on the 360, it’s worth knowing that Xbox Live Gold was replaced by a different tier and some of the old online features have been reshuffled over the years.
Saved games: two Microsoft pages, two answers
This is where you need to be careful. In the store closure announcement, Microsoft writes that cloud saves keep working and also carry over to newer Xbox consoles. The backward compatibility page, however, says the opposite: saved games from older consoles don’t transfer to Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S, and cloud transfer only works between Xbox One and Series X|S, meaning for saves created there.
Both statements come from Microsoft and they can’t be reconciled. The difference probably lies in how each game saves, but there’s no official list of exceptions. So before you unplug and sell your old console, launch the specific game on a newer Xbox and check whether your progress is there. Until you’ve verified it for your game, assume your progress won’t carry over.
How to run 360 games on a newer Xbox
The route is called backward compatibility and it’s free. It covers three generations, the original Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, and Microsoft promises shorter loading times, higher resolution, more stable frame rates and better controller responsiveness. Newer consoles also add FPS Boost, which doubles, and in rare cases quadruples, the original frame rate in selected titles, and Auto HDR for games made before HDR existed. Both run only on Xbox Series X|S, not on Xbox One, just like Quick Resume and switching between games in progress.
The two limitations that most often trip people up:
- The catalog isn’t growing. At E3 2019, Microsoft wrote that after that week it didn’t plan to add any more original Xbox or Xbox 360 titles to the Xbox One catalog. There were over 600 of them at the time, and it has been a closed list ever since. Which specific games from your library are on it is covered in our overview of the best Xbox 360 games, along with instructions on how to check compatibility yourself.
- The disc has to stay in the drive. For backward-compatible disc games, the console downloads the game after you insert the disc, but you can only play with the disc inside. The Xbox Series S has no disc drive, so backward compatibility there works exclusively with digital games. If you’re currently choosing between the models, the difference is covered in our comparison of Xbox Series X and Series S.
Backward-compatible titles can still be bought, just in different places than before: on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S or Xbox.com. Some of them also show up in the subscription, so before you buy anything, go through the Game Pass catalog and how to keep track of what’s currently in it. Without a console, you can also play some older games via streaming; the basics are described in our Xbox Cloud Gaming guide.
When it makes sense to keep the 360 plugged in and when it doesn’t
- Keep it plugged in if you have a large digital library and only part of it is in the backward compatibility catalog. The closed list from 2019 won’t get any bigger, so anything that isn’t on it can only be played on the original console.
- Keep it plugged in if you play games that rely on extra hardware. Steering wheels, dance mats and the Kinect sensor and what it’s good for today aren’t catered for on newer consoles.
- Unplug it if you mainly played big online titles. Servers are shut down by publishers, not Microsoft, and for games from that era most of them are no longer running.
- Don’t buy one today as your main console. With no way to buy anything, it’s a device for one specific library. If you’re looking for a cheap way into Xbox, the Xbox One and whether it still makes sense is a better bet, or check our comparison of how much each Xbox costs today and what’s included.
FAQ
Not on the console itself or on marketplace.xbox.com; Microsoft ended purchases of new content on 29 July 2024. However, Xbox 360 titles that are backward compatible can still be bought on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S or Xbox.com. Games and DLC bought earlier remain playable.
No. In both announcements, Microsoft explicitly states that the store closure doesn’t affect playing games and DLC you’ve already bought. If you delete a game, you can download it again, because the license stays on your account. Add-ons remain available and playable with the original game.
Online multiplayer continues after July 2024, but it’s up to the publisher of each game. If the publisher stops running the servers, online play ends regardless of what Microsoft does. Nothing changes for single-player.
Microsoft talks about the Xbox 360 store as a whole and doesn’t list any exception for a specific model, so there’s no distinction here between the original console and the u003cstrongu003eXbox 360 Slimu003c/strongu003e. Purchasing ended the same way for every model, and games you bought still play the same way on all of them.
Through backward compatibility, which is free and includes selected titles from the original Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. For digital games your account is enough; for disc games the disc has to stay in the drive. The Series S has no disc drive, so only digital versions work there.
Details verified as of 11 September 2026. The contradiction about transferring saved games is still there on Microsoft’s pages, so check the process for your game before you sell your old console. More articles about the brand are collected in the Xbox on Gamers Together hub.