Here are the 47 games that'll be totally lost when the Xbox 360 store shuts down
On July 29, 2024, Microsoft will turn off the ability to purchase games on the Xbox 360 Marketplace, effectively killing access to hundreds of digital games. Many of those games will remain available on other platforms, but there are outliers - and one resource has put together a list of the 47 games that will die with the 360 store.
The folks at Delisted Games have gone through the list of digital Xbox 360 titles to find those that are not available for purchase either physically or on other digital platforms. You won't find many landmark hits in the list, but you will see a lot of nifty indie titles and interesting historical curiosities - alongside a heck of a lot of Kinect experiments.
Aegis Wing
Arkadian Warriors
Battlezone
Blazing Birds
Boogie Bunnies
Bubble Bobble Neo!
CrazyMouse
Crimson Alliance
Defenders of Ardania
Diabolical Pitch
The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai
Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons
Fire Pro Wrestling
Freefall Racers
Fruit Ninja Kinect
Full House Poker
Fusion: Genesis
Gel: Set & Match
Gotham City Impostors
Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm
Haunt
Home Run Stars
Hybrid
Kinect Fun Labs
Kinect Sports Gems
Leedmees
Meteos Wars
Minesweeper Flags
Mini Ninjas Adventures
Panzer General: Allied Assault
The Path of Go
Puzzle Arcade
PUZZLE BOBBLE Live!
Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure!
Rekoil: Liberator
Schizoid
Spyglass Board Games
South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play!
South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge
Things on Wheels
Totemball
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Special Editions
Wing Commander Arena
Wits & Wagers
Wreckateer
Yo-Ho Kablammo
Zombie Wranglers
Aegis Wing is probably the title most worth calling out here, because it's a weird outlier in multiple ways. It's technically a first-party Xbox game, developed as part of a unique Microsoft internship program by three developers and released on Xbox Live Arcade with the assistance of Carbonated Games. This game is free on the Xbox 360 Marketplace and backwards compatible on modern Xbox consoles, but you can't actually acquire it on the current store. You can only get it by digging into the old Marketplace and adding it to your account there.
None of the other games on the list are backwards compatible, and that's a shame. Some of the standouts to my eyes include Meteos Wars, an XBLA sequel to a DS puzzle game originally designed by Smash Bros. lead Masahiro Sakurai. There are also well regarded indies like brawler The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai and action-RPG Crimson Alliance.
As a sicko for gaming's weird curiosities, I'm particularly interested in some of the highly-maligned stuff in the list. There's Wing Commander Arena, an ill-considered arcade-style revival for a beloved space combat sim. There's also Fire Pro Wrestling, an utterly abysmal reimagining of a cult classic Japanese wrestling series. Look, bad games need preservation too.
All of these games will likely remain available in darker corners of the internet thanks to pirates, but it's a shame that piracy will be the only option to revisit any of these titles. If you want to make a few last-minute purchases to ensure you've got legal access to these games past the store shutdown, you'll want to hit the Marketplace by July 29. You'll continue to be able to access them after the shutdown as long as you've got a 360 connected online. For the time being, at least.
None of these titles factor into our list of the best Xbox 360 games, but it's always a great time to revisit one of the best libraries in gaming history.