343 Shutting Down Xbox 360 Online Services For Several Halo Games In January

Halo fans got some very good news today thanks to a Halo Infinite livestream detailing that game’s campaign. 343 Industries reminded its players that it plans to stop the Xbox 360 online service for several Halo titles. It has pushed back its December execution to January. 

This was the original plan of 343 who announced it in December 2020. This plan will see the end of 360 online services related to the following titles. 

• Halo 3
• Halo 3: ODST
• Halo Reach
• Anniversary Halo: Combat Evolved
• Halo Wars
• Halo: Spartan Assault

This was supposed to take place this December but will now occur on January 13, 2022. Online matchmaking features will be severely restricted or disabled for affected games. Yes, this includes playing them on Xbox One or Series X/S via backwards compatibility. According to the Halo Waypoint post (which you should read for a full breakdown of how this all works) owners of these games will still be able to play them offline “indefinitely.”  

343’s reason for doing this is to focus on the future of the Halo series. It will launch Halo Infinite in December and continue to update Halo: The Master Chief Collection, including its gradual migration from PC to PC. According to 343, juggling Halo Infinite and the MCC while maintaining online services for several legacy Halo titles “requires significant time and resources, which directly impacts the studio’s ability to support current and future projects like Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo Infinite.”

“Every cycle spent maintaining and supporting Xbox 360 legacy services is time and energy not spent on the future of Halo,” reads the blog post.

In 2019, 343 started to roll out sunsetting in four steps. In December 2018, it stopped the future sale of Halo on 360. We’re currently in the third phase, which is updated messaging, with the fourth being the shutdown next year, naturally. The original Halo.Bungie.net website was launched earlier this year. For good, went offline, so this year has been an end of an era of sorts for longtime Halo fans. 

[Source: Halo Waypoint via Video Games Chronicle]