Will they pull the plug on Live for 360 or extend it?

Forgive me if this has been answered but do we have any idea how long Live will last beyond Xbox 360's death? I mean if they did what they did last time then they'll leave it up for another couple years then pull the plug. But I'm thinking ppl had too much investment last gen with digital downloads, and that they should at least extend it for quite some time so we can redownload our arcade titles, for example. I figure if they keep it up indefinately (or at least a long time) then they'll continue to have sells and provide a trustworthy service.

The prime reason I ask is because there are still many games (some retail and dozens of indie titles) on 360 that I'd like to get and I'm not sure if I should seek the discs out, find them on PC, or just buy them on Live when they go on sale. I'm interested to know what you think. Thanks.

I'm sure that they will keep the marketplace running(for past purchases and to continue making $), but as for the online multiplayer, they will either keep it up indefinitely or about halfway through the xbox ones' life cycle, they will narrow down the games to only have servers running for the Best Of games for the 360

The marketplace is specifically what I'm wondering about. I worry about all the games I've bought (and plan to buy). If they drop the marketplace any time soon then I'll loose faith in digital. I mean surely there has to be thousands like me that will be pissed, but I'm also sure there are thousands more nowaday who don't care and run out to the latest and greatest (Xbox One) and rebuy there stuff there. I don't know I would just like a rough estimate on how long we will be abe to re-download stuff we paid for. The original Xbox I can understand since there wasn't nearly as much going on.

Guess you better contact Xbox Support or Email Microsoft lol, I don't know what else to tell ya

Sorry, M$ won't tell you, at least if you demand an answer. It's not in their best interest to worry potential DD buyers and future 360 buyers.

It's all about supply and demand.

When the audience shrinks and moves next gen at some point (3 years from now?), they will pull the plug when the costs are rising and the audience is shrinking. I don't want them to stop supporting 360 Live Gold, but I expect at some point they will have to let the old girl go, especially when they are making next gen plans for Xbox 4. I can't expect any company to keep their console online forever. I still remember when the original Xbox 1 Xbox Live's went offline. It's tragic.

They will make a PR announcement and probably offer up some sort of goodwill goodies to soften the blow, but it will be on their timetable, not some people wanting an answer that could be reported to the press and ruin future sales.

That's a PR nightmare.

My advice is don't buy DD games if there are retail/physical alternatives.

That's my thinking too SolidTy. I've always prefered something tangible and while DD is convenient, your paying for a bunch 0s and 1s at the end of the day lol.

The problem I face, however, is that I don't trust that my disks will remain in pristine condition over the next couple decades and I'm not one to go out and buy remakes. I STILL have my NES/SNES cartridges from when I was a kid (im now 35) and my consoles broke but I recently replaced them and bam! all my collection is there 20something years later. I love the feeling and I just don't think its possible with DD.. yet I cling onto Steam. I have over a grand invested in my Steam account and for some reason I feel safer with it. I don't know why because it's the same situation but maybe it's because Valve has a policy in place that should the fact they go belly up you can download your games in advance and they'll unlock them (or something). If only consoles did this.. I mean we paid money for it, afterall.

I'm not an either/or kinda person as I like to have stuff alike and splitting my collection between DD for PC and physical for console is getting on my nerves. I WOULD go all out DD if I only had a *hint* that MS plans to extend the marketplace at least until next gen rolls out (or longer) which would buy me enough time. Your reason why they won't tell us makes sense.. so I guess I'll gamble on games that go on sale.

At least answer this for me SolidTy.. when Live goes down we can still play the games downloaded to the hard drive forever right?

Yeah...until the unit or HDD goes bad. The online 360 XBL Store that we depend on will be gone though, so no more DLs unless they come up with some sort of solution to transfer to Xbone (which doesn't seem likely).

Like you, I have old games and I like being able to buy a replacement NES let's say and bam, I'm back in business. It's going to be more complicated on the DD front going forward.

With Steam (origin, Blizzard, etc) at least Steam locked into a static console ecosystem. You get a new PC, boom, you have your steam games at the ready.

These static consoles though are a walled garden. I bought my Xbone and my 360 games weren't there. I bought my PS4 and my PS3 games weren't there (except for some PSN cross-buy games). The Wii U is sort of an exception, but with that exception comes a whole host of DD problems (Network IDs tied to one console, etc).

I'm thinking we're gonna see game releases dwindle in 2015- 2016, and then it will get phased out in 2017.

You know I'm at the point now where I may pick up several 360s for cheap before they stop selling them. Usually retailers sell them off cheap in advance before they actually stop carrying them. Then I'll load them all up with 500gb drives. I can do this, right? Is there a limit to how many 360s I can sign into and download games onto? If I can literally have 3-4 360s with all my stuff on them then I would feel VERY comfortable about the future of my 360 collection. I don't have over 500gb worth of DD but I'm right at the limit. Does this plan (assuming it works) sound ridiculous to you?

I actually value my games more the older they become. I'm the opposite from so many that pay high dollar for current games. There's so many games that I doubt anyone of us can beat them all.. so like movies I always bargain hunt for older stuff (always play catch up) this way I have more and get to play more. 20 years from now when I'm 55, I will most likely still be into games since I'm a kid at heart and a spare 360 would come in handy me thinks. Who knows they'll proably have everything we're doing now through an emulator but I somehow doubt it seeing as Xbox wasn't friendly with it if ya know what I mean (not trying to change the topic).

The problem is DRM. Only one primary 360 console can play those games offline, the rest require online. I know because I have multiple 360s and I too have quite the DL collection. I prefer physical, but there are some DD games you can't buy physical.

Once the XBL goes down for 360, assuming they don't change their policy, you won't have access to the content save for the primary 360.

Well that's a big no-no. I would think once XBL goes down then they *should* change the policy so our games aren't in prison. What's it to them if they are or aren't unless they believe they'll get more sells out of us in the future. Damnit!

Sounds like I need to focus on physical games before they dry up, and still pick up an extra console for the road. Thanks for all your help.

Not a chance.. When they shutdown GFWL (XBL for PC), all PC games bought through Micrsoft, or that used GFWL as drm, ceased to function as of last year. Personally, I lost the ability to play 5 or 6 games that I really liked. Luckily, most people and companies favored using Steam...

--sorry--

I'm a little confused because according to the post above it would seem that games like Gears of War is no longer playable on PC. So just to be clear...your saying that even AFTER they pull the plug on 360's XBL that only one primary console will be able to play games offline for as long as the hardware works (and no secondary consoles)?

As of right now, if you own multiple 360s (as I do), only your primarly 360 can access those games offline...as long as the hardware works of course.

If you have additional 360s, you are required to sign in online to Xbox Live and to your XBLG account to access those very same DD games.

Regarding GeoW on PC, I never spoke about that, but yes, when the pull the Xbox 360 XBLG plug and do not change current policies (which doesn't seem like they plan too based on PC's GFWL and the original Xbox 1's shut down) , you will lose access to being able to DL those DD games. You will lose access to being able to play any of those DD games on extra consoles since the XBLG was shut down.

However, your main primary unit will be able to play those games provided you downloaded them before they shut the XBLG service down.

Your main unit will be able to play those games offline...until your main unit dies (as electronics are prone to do eventually).

I'm expecting them to keep the Xbox Live service going because people pay for it. Also,the Xbox Live is for both 360 and One consoles so it's not quite right to pull the plug yet. All they needed was a better hardware and nothing much else. There is no more things for improving. And BTW they made a mistake with designing the consoles like this and rendering them not customizable. Why? Because now they spend money to make some games exclusive and they mostly lose money insted of winning them. It would be much easier for us and for them if they created hardware-removable consoles and sold special parts for the consoles. They would earn much more money. Hmmmm... But,wait a minute! Won't that turn them into PCs? No,certainly not. Why? Prove it! Well,does anyone make mass-production parts for their kind of motherboards? No. The companies producing hardware for PC also produce Sony and Microsoft parts If each company created its' own kind of sockets and motherboards and produced parts for different bundles of the consoles it would be much more easier. That's why now MS can't keep XBL open for 360.

Since I'm a PC Gamer as well.. it sounds like it would be wise for me to make all my digital purchaes there instead of 360. This goes for all the indie/arcade titles that are currently shared between 360/PC, and like you said stick with physical if available. There's no way I would put my faith in one console to hold all my stuff for the long run unless they change their policy. Thanks for the help in this thread.

No Problemo, Amigo! :)

I am predicting that the X360 will go the way of PS2. That is, it will have games (most likely EA Sports legacy titles in later years) and support coming out for it for a long time before finally getting a respectable sendoff.

I expect Microsoft to honour it's 10 year promised lifespan of the Xbox 360/Xbox 360 S/Xbox 360 E family of 7th gen consoles. New games should be coming until November 22nd 2015. Currently the Xbox 360 has sold 86.4 million or So. Microsoft will most likely keep the 360's Xbox live service going for 1 year after the promised 10 year lifespan. As a few more games will be released in 2015 and 2016. But those games will be mostly sports title and budget games. Xbox 360's install base will keep Xbox live going for about another 1 year - 18 months. When Xbox One install base hits 20 Million consoles. Xbox 360 on-line support will be dropped.

The original Xbox only had an install base of 24.66 million. MS was able to make a go of Xbox live with a small install base of 24.66 million. Xbox one has sold only 10.9 million thus far. But with the continued $350.00 price point MS will reach 20 million faster than the original Xbox did, But not quite as fast as Xbox 360 did. Once 20 million unit of Xbox one have been sold. On-live support for 360 will end.

I'm not as concerned about when the support will end, because that's inevitable and sooner than later. But I AM concerned about all of our digital purchases and what becomes of that. If in 3 years my Xbox 360 breaks and I have no way to obtain it (even on my spare 360) then I'll quite supporting DD with consoles. I'm 50/50 with steam since it's nearly the same thing (you pay for license to play/rent) but at least Valve will unlock the games from their servers should they go out of business (and give us like a 6 month notice or something). This is VERY good and I think M$ needs to do the same thing. I don't think it'll take too much business away from their future products...instead it'll get honest backers such as myself to KEEP BUYING stuff. Meanwhile (no offense) but all the kids with OCD out there will have moved onto the Xbox One or the next best thing made from M$ and don't give a darn about their previous purchases as they'll continue to buy DD out of impulse. So I really don't see who loses here.

Ya I have alot of games including gtav cod black ops 2 perfect dark banjo etc ya what will happen ms better remove that policy for 360 or face a swarm of a angry gamers and that's where digital distribution will end BC no one will want to support it BC the possibility of losing all thier games

That's exactly right. I'm starting believe that ppl in this day and age don't seem to care about ownership. As long as they can buy it, and play it, then that's all that matters to them. Where does all this disposable income come from? Call me old fashioned, but I believe you have the right to keep what you paid for in your possession forever whether it breaks on your or not.

I got every CoD game for 360 so shutting those servers down would suck