Xbox 360 will officially be discontinued

The legendary console first launched in November 2005, and has since sold over 84 million units worldwide.

Writing in a blog post published this afternoon, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said the console would now only be available to buy until current stocks run out.

“Xbox 360 means a lot to everyone in Microsoft,” Spencer wrote. “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.”

Spencer adds that to date the Xbox 360 stands with 78 billion gaming hours played, nearly 486 billion Gamerscore on 27 billion achievements unlocked, and over 25 billion hours spent in apps.

Xbox 360 owners will continue to receive Xbox Live services, including access to multiplayer gaming and parties, and Xbox Games with Gold titles. Xbox Live servers for Xbox 360 games will remain online and games will continue to be sold at retail until stocks run out, afterward, these games will still be available to purchase through the online store.

Microsoft began rolling out backward compatibility features for Xbox 360 games on Xbox One last year and the library of compatible titles is expanding.