Microsoft has confirmed that it will be removing a series of titles from the Xbox 360 Marketplace later this month, meaning players will no longer be able to download the affected games.
Sharing the news on its official website, Microsoft wrote: “A number of game titles and associated add-ons will be removed from the Xbox 360 Marketplace in a select set of regions per title.”
The list of titles being removed from the UK store includes several Assassin’s Creed games, Far Cry 2, Mass Effect 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.
Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Call Of Duty: Ghosts will also be removed from the UK version of the Xbox 360 Marketplace alongside Left 4 Dead and its sequel, Left 4 Dead 2. Check out the full list of titles here.
The removals start on February 7 and after that date, players will no longer be able to purchase affected titles but “once purchased, you can always redownload these games or any other previously purchased games from your Xbox 360 Download History.”
This delisting will not affect the ability to purchase the titles that are available on Xbox One or Xbox Series consoles.
Last October, Microsoft announced no further Xbox 360 games would be included in its Games For Gold subscription service. “We have reached the limit of our ability to bring Xbox 360 games to the catalogue,” it said in a statement citing “licensing, legal and technical constraints”.
Earlier this month, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer admitted that 2022 was “too light on games”.
“Our commitment to our fans is that we need to have a steady release of great games that people can play on our platform, and we didn’t do enough of that in 2022, there’s no doubt. And fundamentally, that’s on me. I’m the head of the business,” he said before that the company was “excited about getting to roll into 2023”.
In other news, Xbox, Nintendo and Sony are all reportedly skipping E3 2023, the first in-person E3 event in four years.
The post Microsoft to remove ‘Far Cry 2’, ‘Mass Effect 2’ ‘CS:GO’ and more from Xbox 360 Marketplace appeared first on NME.
