Microsoft officially discontinues Xbox 360 console after 10 years

Microsoft has announced that it has stopped manufacturing Xbox 360 consoles ten years and five months since its initial launch in November 2005. The console will continue to be sold and will still receive a full range of Xbox Live services.

The news came from Xbox boss Phil Spencer in a blog post heavily-laden with praise for the immensely successful console, which had sold 84 million units as of the last official figures in June 2014. The system is likely to be around the 90 million mark at least by now.

"Xbox 360 means a lot to everyone in Microsoft," said Spencer in the statement. "And while we've had an amazing run, the realities of manufacturing a product over a decade old are starting to creep up on us. Which is why we have made the decision to stop manufacturing new Xbox 360 consoles. We will continue to sell existing inventory of Xbox 360 consoles, with availability varying by country."

The post also outlines how the system will continue to be supported.

The Xbox 360 was an enormous success for Microsoft and much of that can be attributed to the success of Xbox Live, and the boom period for online gaming on console that was aided by Microsoft's service and the release of games like Halo 3, Gears of War and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Halo, Gears and other exclusives including the emerging Forza series and Bioware's original Mass Effect (for a brief period at least) also attributed to the console's chart-topping sales. Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade and annual Summer of Arcade event fostered and publicised the digital releases of indie games like Braid, Limbo, Bastion, Castle Crashers, Geometry Wars 2 and Shadow Complex - and played a major factor in the thriving indie scene we still see today.

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