Halo Xbox 360 online services will be shutting down in early 2022, bringing an end to a memorable era of online multiplayer for many gamers.
Shooter fans have been playing the heck out of Halo Infinite's free-to-play multiplayer over the last few weeks. While it's had some issues such as a grindy Battle Pass, 343 Industries has been quick to respond to problems; most recently, it buffed the XP gain for a second time and announced that a playlist update is arriving tomorrow. Unfortunately, there's a bit of bad news for Halo fans on older consoles -- online services for multiple Halo Xbox 360 games are shutting down.
"In January, we will be sunsetting Halo Xbox 360 online services," read a tweet from Halo Support. "The affected games will remain playable indefinitely, but some experiences will be impacted."
While some features (such as online squads) will remain online, matchmaking and other core functionality will be going dark according to the chart above. This also means that some online-dependent achievements will no longer be attainable.
343 Industries also detailed a list of what features will still be available after the sunset date.
FEATURES THAT WILL CONTINUE TO BE AVAILABLE PER GAME
Halo: Reach – Campaign, Firefight, Custom games, Forge, Splitscreen, Local Area Networking (LAN), Online squads, support will vary for Achievements
Halo 4 – Campaign, Spartan ops, Custom games, Forge, Splitscreen, LAN, Online squads, support will vary for Achievements.
Halo 3 – Campaign, Custom games, Forge, Splitscreen, LAN, Online squads, Service record, Player customization, support will vary for Achievements.
Halo 3: ODST – Campaign, Firefight, Splitscreen, LAN, Online squads, Service record, and Player customization.
Halo: CE Anniversary – Campaign, Splitscreen and LAN
Halo: Spartan Assault – Campaign, Online Squads, and Matchmaking
Halo Wars – Campaign, Online Squads, and Matchmaking
It should be noted that this only affects the Xbox 360 versions of the game. Unfortunately, that also applies to Backwards Compatibility, too. It doesn't matter if you're playing the Xbox 360 games on an Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S -- they still depend on the same servers that are running the Halo Xbox 360 online services.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is unaffected by this change; it uses a different set of servers. Based on the shutdown date of these Xbox 360 titles compared to their release date, it looks like you'll be able to play these games for quite a while yet.
When Do the Halo Xbox 360 Online Services Shut Down?
The Halo Xbox 360 online services will be shutting down on January 13, 2022, according to a support page on the Halo website.
While this is sad news for console gaming classics, these games will remain fully playable in their newer form via The Master Chief Collection. You can buy Halo: The Master Chief Collection for PC and Xbox via its official website starting at $39.99 or your regional equivalent.
What do you think of Halo Xbox 360 online services shutting down? What is your favorite Halo game of the Xbox 360 era? Let us know in the comments below!
