Analysis: More than 220 digital games will disappear when the Xbox 360 Store closes

More than 220 digital Xbox 360 games will no longer be available for purchase when Microsoft closes the Xbox 360 Store next year, VGC analysis shows.

Although users will still be able to redownload their previous purchases for the foreseeable future, Microsoft has announced that after July 29, 2024, it will no longer be possible to buy any more games or DLC from the Xbox 360 Store.

This specifically means players won’t be able to buy content directly through the Xbox 360 console or from the Xbox 360 Marketplace site.

While many of these games will still be playable via other means, around 220 of them will essentially disappear forever.

There are currently nearly 500 games in the ‘Games on Demand’ section of the Xbox 360 Store. This section deals with games which also have physical releases.

While these will all disappear when the Xbox 360 Store closes, some of them will still be available to purchase digitally on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S stores, if they’re part of Xbox‘s backwards compatible games library.

For those not backwards compatible, it will of course still be possible to play these games by acquiring and using the disc versions. For now, then, none of these titles can truly be considered ‘lost’ – players will simply lose one way of playing them.

It’s the digital-only games in the store’s Xbox Live Arcade section that more are at risk of disappearing, since there’s no physical alternative.

Again, some of these will still be available for purchase on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S if they’re backwards compatible on those systems. Not all of them are, however.

Of the 619 titles currently listed in the Arcade section (in North America), only some are backwards compatible, and others have already been delisted but remain visible on the store for various reasons (some left behind free demos, for example).

After taking backwards compatible and previously delisted games out of the equation, VGC has determined that around 220 digital-only games will essentially ‘disappear’ from commerce and will no longer be available to buy again.

There are those who will consider some titles less of a loss than others – various titles on our list are available on other systems, or received ‘better’ versions on later generations of hardware (such as Valiant Hearts: The Great War, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and Life is Strange, all of which have separate Xbox One versions).

It could be argued, however, that game preservation isn’t a selective process, and that every version of a game is of equal importance in that game’s history.

The full list of digital-only Xbox 360 games set to disappear on July 29, 2024 is as follows:

• 0D Beat Drop
• 10 Frame Bowling (Kinect)
• 1942: Joint Strike
• 3 Point Contest (Kinect)
• Abyss Odyssey
• Alien Breed Episode 1
• Alien Breed 2: Assault
• Alien Breed 3: Descent
• Alien Rage
• Alien Spidy
• Amy
• Ancients of Ooga
• Anna: Extended Edition
• Arkadian Warriors
• Assault Heroes
• Avatar FameStars
• Awesomenauts
• Backbreaker Vengeance
• Bastion
• Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
• Batman: The Telltale Series
• Battle Academy
• Battlezone
• Bejeweled Blitz Live
• Bionic Commando: Rearmed
• Black Knight Sword
• Blade Kitten
• Blazing Birds
• Bloody Good Time
• The Bluecoats: North vs South
• Bomberman Live
• Boogie Bunnies
• Boxing Fight (Kinect)
• The Bridge
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• Bubble Bobble Neo!
• Burnout Crash!
• Call of Duty Classic
• Capsized
• CellFactor: Psychokinetic Wars
• Charlie Murder
• Child of Light
• Choplifter HD
• Cloudberry Kingdom
• Cobalt
• Constant C
• Contrast
• Crazy Machines Elements
• CrazyMouse
• Crimson Alliance
• Crimson Dragon (Kinect)
• Darkstalkers Resurrection
• Darts vs Zombies (Kinect)
• Deadliest Warrior: Battlegrounds
• Deadlight
• Death Tank
• Deep Black: Episode 1
• Defenders of Ardania
• Defense Technica
• Destination: Arcade
• Diabolical Pitch (Kinect)
• The Dishwasher
• The Dishwasher: VS
• Dogfight 1942
• Dollar Dash
• Double Dragon II
• Duke Nukem 3D
• Dungeon Defenders
• Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale
• Dust: An Elysian Tail
• Dustforce
• Ecco the Dolphin
• Exit
• Exit 2
• The Fancy Pants Adventures
• Fatal Fury Special
• Fez
• Field Goal Contest (Kinect)
• Final Exam
• Fire Pro Wrestling
• Fireburst
• Freefall Racers (Kinect)
• Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition
• Frozen Free Fall: Snowball Fight
• Fruit Ninja Kinect (Kinect)
• Full House Poker
• Fusion: Genesis
• Gel
• Geon
• Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
• Goosebumps: The Game
• Gotham City Impostors
• Guilty Gear XX ACore Plus
• Guncraft: Blocked and Loaded
• Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm
• Haunt (Kinect)
• Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit
• Hexodius
• Home Run Stars (Kinect)
• How to Survive
• Hunter’s Trophy 2: America
• Hunter’s Trophy 2: Australia
• Hybrid
• Ion Assault
• Jam Live Music Arcade
• Kinect Party – Base Game (Kinect)
• Kinect Sports Gems (Kinect)
• Leedmees (Kinect)
• Life is Strange
• LocoCycle
• Lucidity
• Magic 2015
• Mark of the Ninja
• Marvel Puzzle Quest
• Masquerade
• Max: The Curse of Brotherhood
• Meteos Wars
• MicroBot
• Mighty No 9
• Minesweeper Flags
• Mini Ninjas Adventures (Kinect)
• Mortal Kombat Arcade
• Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise
• NCAA Basketball: March Madness Edition
• Panzer General
• The Path of Go
• Penalty Saver (Kinect)
• Penny Arcade (Episode 1)
• Penny Arcade (Episode 2)
• Pinball FX2
• Ping Pong (Kinect)
• Prison Architect: Xbox 360 Edition
• Prize Driver (Kinect)
• Puzzle Arcade
• Puzzle Bobble Live
• Puzzle Chronicles
• RBI Baseball 14
• Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure!
• The Raven
• Raystorm HD
• Reaction Rally (Kinect)
• Red Johnson’s Chronicles
• Rekoil: Liberator
• Renegade Ops
• Resident Evil
• Resident Evil 0
• Rez HD
• Risk
• Risk: Urban Assault
• Rocket Riot
• RocketBowl
• Rotastic
• Rush’n Attack
• Rush’n Attack: Ex-Patriot
• Sanctum 2
• Scene It? Movie Night
• Schizoid
• Sea Life Safari
• Section 8: Prejudice
• Sega Vintage Collection: ToeJam & Earl
• Ski Race (Kinect)
• Skulls of the Shogun
• South Park: Let’s Go Tower Defense Play!
• South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge
• Space Channel 5 Part 2
• Space Invaders Extreme
• Spare Parts
• Spyglass Board Games
• Star Raiders
• State of Decay
• Storm
• Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting
• Street Fighter III: Online Edition
• Strider
• Special Forces Team X
• Super Time Force
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
• Syberia 2
• Takedown: Red Sabre
• Tales from the Borderlands
• Tempest
• Things on Wheels
• TiQal
• TNT Racers
• TotemBall
• Track & Field
• Trials Fusion
• Trivial Pursuit Live
• Tron
• Valiant Hearts: The Great War
• Vessel
• Vigilante 8 Arcade
• Voodoo Dice
• War World
• Warlords (2008 release)
• Warp
• Watchmen
• Watchmen Part 2
• Way of the Dogg
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
• Wik: Fable of Souls
• Wing Commander Arena
• Wits & Wagers
• The Wolf Among Us
• Worms
• Worms 2: Armageddon
• Worms Revolution
• Worms: Ultimate Mayhem
• Wreckateer (Kinect)
• Wrecked: Revenge Revisited
• Xevious
• Yar’s Revenge
• Yie Ar King-Fu
• Yo-Ho Kablammo
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Decade Duels Plus
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium Duels
• Zeit 2
• Zeno Clash UE
• Zeno Clash 2
• Zombie Driver HD
• Zombie Wranglers

Note: a small number of these games may be available in physical compilations. Three of the Worms titles, for example, were released on disc as Worms Collection. This list only focuses on individual digital releases.