- 343 Industries announced that they will soon cease online support for several Halo titles
- The announcement comes as a new gameplay overview for Halo Infinite is released
- 343’s decision comes as an effort to concentrate more resources on Halo Infinite and supporting the Master Chief Collection
Every Halo fans’ eyes are looking towards Halo Infinite’s release date as, in the meantime, 343 Industries is going to shut down support for all Xbox 360 Halo servers in the next few months.
Several Halo Games Will Cease to Be Supported on the Xbox 360
The Halo franchise has been a staple of gaming culture for 20 years now, with many games played mainly on the Xbox, and millions of fans still playing even the oldest games of the series. The latest long-anticipated game will be Halo Infinite, for which 343 recently released a new campaign overview.
However, while exciting news about the fresh game is popping up every week, recently 343 Industries said that they will be shutting down Xbox 360 Online services for several titles. The shutdown will take effect on January 13, 2022. 343 actually announced this sometime before, but there has been a slight change in the dates. This could have something to do with the approaching Infinite launch day. The planned shutting down will affect the following games of the franchise:
• Halo 3
• Halo 3: ODST
• Halo Reach
• Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
• Halo Wars
• Halo: Spartan Assault
Why Is 343 Shutting Down These Games’ Servers?
343 Industries announced in a Halo Waypoint post that they will be shutting down Xbox 360 support for the previously mentioned games. The company says the reason for this is that it wants to focus its resources on developing Halo Infinite, as well as supporting and continually updating Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
343 says that it is difficult to support both Halo Infinite and the MCC while maintaining online services for several legacy Halo titles. The studio says efforts to do this directly and negatively impact Halo Infinite’s development. “Every cycle spent maintaining and supporting Xbox 360 legacy services is time and energy not spent on the future of Halo,” 343 wrote in the blog post.
The shutdown has already started in 2019 and will have a total of four phases. In December last year 343 halted future sales of Halo games on the Xbox 360. The current phase is the third in the line and consists of informing the players of the new changes. The final one will be the actual shutdown next year.
Although this shutdown will result in somewhat of an end of an era for Halo, it is hoped by both company and the community that the new installment of the franchise will bring in fresh players. Even after the shutdown players will still be able to play these games offline “indefinitely.”
