343 Industries has announced that online services for Xbox 360 Halo games will be “reduced or disabled” on January 13, 2022. The company emphasized that the shutdown would not affect Halo: The Master Chief Collection as the “titles available within MCC have been rebuilt and remastered to leverage different, modernized services.”
For a full list of the affected Halo games and the services that will remain available per game, see below:
- 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: Combat Evolved Anniversary – Campaign, Splitscreen and LAN
- Spartan Assault – Campaign, Online Squads, and Matchmaking
- Halo Wars – Campaign, Online Squads, and Matchmaking
343 Industries was sure to convey that the shutdown “means that while these games can still be played, online services such as challenges and file share will no longer be available.” The company also included a chart that displayed the impact of each game. It looks like Halo: Spartan Assualt and Halo: Wars will be the only games to retain matchmaking.
It is also important to note that as the server sunset will remove multiplayer for most of the games, any achievements related to matchmaking will no longer be accessible. Players now have a little less than a month to obtain those achievements if they want them.
With the recent release of the Xbox Series X/S, it is not surprising Microsoft would make this announcement as they attempt to officially stop supporting the now two-generation old console. The Xbox 360 went out of production in 2016; however, Microsoft has continued to support the console. Microsoft’s decision to stop supporting its most popular game, Halo, may be the last nail in the coffin and a final goodbye for the Xbox 360.