XBox 360 Ending Production After A Decade of Service

After an amazing run of almost eleven years, Microsoft will be pulling the plug on production of new XBox 360 consoles, the corporation announced today. “Xbox 360 means a lot to everyone in Microsoft,” said Phil Spencer, Xbox’s chief. “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.”
The XBox 360 was introduced in November of 2005, back when every phone was the flip variety and TV shows were terrible. So was the console’s initial rollout, which had a major problem with overheating. The “Red Ring Of Death” or “RROD” for short was a common term among XBox gamers, who frequently had to turn their machines in on warranty for “fixed” models that would just RROD themselves after a few more months. Losing billions on repair costs, Microsoft eventually replaced the original model with improved versions.
The 360 would eventually grow to surpass its competitor, the Playstation 3, in number of units sold — though both were left in the wind by the Wii near the beginning of the generation. “The Xbox 360 helped redefine an entire generation of gaming at Microsoft,” said Phil Spencer. “I am incredibly proud of all of the work and dedication that went into development of the Xbox 360 hardware, services and games portfolio over the last decade. And I’m grateful to the fans for their continued passion and support.”
Yes, they still sell them, and will continue to for several months. There’s quite a long buffer between the end of the assembly line and the emptying of warehouses. The current (and final) XBox 360 bundle currently sells for $200 with a copy of Forza Horizon 2. Microsoft says they will continue to support existing XBox 360 consoles for several years forward, including full Xbox Live services for apps and online gaming, the Xbox Live Gold program, and hardware support.