Xbox Live online play is being yanked for games on the original Xbox, Microsoft has announced. The reason? It wants to make changes to the service for the Xbox 360 that just won’t work with Microsoft’s original console. Now what could they be?
As of April 15, Microsoft is discontinuing Xbox Live on its eight year old console, beginning by stopping automatic membership renewals. Microsoft says it isn’t just an attempt to get people to upgrade, but an essential move that “will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community,” according Larry Hryb of Xbox Live. In other words, say your fond farewells to Halo 2 multiplayer now, and be warned that Xbox Originals on the 360 are getting the plug pulled online too.
Project Natal spotted in the wild!
Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten meanwhile explained the move in blog post, hinting at further shake-up to the service shortly: “To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games.”
Just what has Microsoft got planned for an Xbox Live sans first generation Xboxes? Is it just an extended friends list or something Natal related, perhaps? Whitten doesn’t explicitly link the two, but does follow up with the promise that he “couldn’t be more excited about what we have in store with ‘Project Natal’ and Live”.
Pipe up with your thoughts in the comments below, and if you’re one of the users affected, Microsoft says it’ll be contacting you shortly.
