"Not True" That Microsoft Will Turn Off Xbox 360 Servers in November, Exec Says

Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. Asked on Twitter recently to weigh in on rumors that Microsoft would turn off the Xbox 360's servers this coming November, Microsoft's top gaming boss Phil Spencer succinctly stated: "Not true."

For the sake of comparison, Microsoft discontinued Xbox Live 1.0 service for original Xbox consoles and games, including those playable on Xbox 360, in April 2010. The console was introduced in November 2001, meaning service was kept up and running for nearly a decade.

The Xbox 360, first released in November 2005, has already celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Speaking in 2013, Microsoft marketing executive Yusuf Mehdi said the company would support the "incredibly profitable" Xbox 360 for a further three years at least. That would put the end-of-support window at sometime around 2016, which might explain why the subject recently came up on Twitter.

However, at the time, Mehdi specifically mentioned releasing 100 further games for Xbox 360 by 2016. So it's possible when he was talking about ongoing support, he was referring to new releases and not necessarily server support.

In all likelihood, the Xbox 360's servers will eventually be shut down, as Microsoft focuses on the Xbox One. But it is not this day.