Xbox Live Will be discontinued for Original Xbox

According to Major Nelson's blog the service will be discontinued for all original Xbox's and Xbox titles.

MajorNelson wrote:

I wanted to let you know that on April 15, 2010 Microsoft will discontinue Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox 1 games playable on Xbox 360. Our first step in this process will be to turn off auto-renewals for those members who only use Xbox LIVE on a v1 Xbox. While I can’t comment on the specifics, this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community. We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features.

While this doesn't seem that important upon first glance, notice where he writes, "this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences...".

To me, that means we're finally getting more than 100 slots on our friends' lists. Let the GWJ friend-you-up-athon begin.

If you stay perfectly still, you can hear the sound of thousands of hardcore Halo 2 players screaming "Nooooooooooooo!" simultaneously.

Well, good for them. Guess we'll see what they have planned at E3.

I can only remember playing some original Xbox Amped 2 and Rainbow Six 3 on the current Live, and that was some years ago, so no big loss, there. I'm much more intrigued about what they have planned for Live.

It would be interesting to see some statistics about how many original Xbox games are still played over the current Live. I would've thought it's a very small number, but then again, Halo 2 was huge.

I bet this is one of the steps they needed for expanding the LIVE Friends lists. Didnt they once discuss legacy issues with XBOX 1 games, though they named Halo 1 or 2 specifically as the example?

LockAndLoad wrote:

If you stay perfectly still, you can hear the sound of thousands of hardcore Halo 2 players screaming "Nooooooooooooo!" simultaneously.

Well, good for them. Guess we'll see what they have planned at E3.

........yep. I hear em.

I'd be interested in how many people are still subscribe to Live on the Original XBox and what percentage of those are people who still use it as opposed to those who just haven't bothered to cancel their subscription like a lot of people seem to do with World of Warcraft.

Wait, the original XBox had Live support?!?

I hope you're right, skeletonframes. Otherwise I'm not entirely sure why they'd have to discontinue it for games played on the 360.

Just watch, they'll ax XBox1 service, patch X360 Live, and we'll get nothing but a bunch of new paid avatar content.

Thowky wrote:

I'd be interested in how many people are still subscribe to Live on the Original XBox and what percentage of those are people who still use it as opposed to those who just haven't bothered to cancel their subscription like a lot of people seem to do with World of Warcraft.

Lots of people still play HALO 2. Lots.

I'm excited for this. Halo 2 was the number one game keeping them from expanding the friends list, and I'd love to see it grow, allow us to create groups (L4D, Gears, etc) and all that stuff.

Here's the letter to the community, for those that haven't read it.

Marc Whitten wrote:

A Letter from Marc Whitten: Discontinuation of Xbox LIVE for Original Xbox Games

Dear Xbox LIVE Members,

On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals. I want to start by saying this isn’t a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community.

Seven years ago we laid out our vision for the connected console when we launched Xbox LIVE. We believed then that the power of the Internet to connect people would revolutionize living room entertainment. It started with amazing multiplayer games, and we’ve since seen that bet pay off again and again with the launches of Xbox 360, Marketplace, Netflix and powerful social features like Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. None of this would have been possible without the success of LIVE as a multiplayer gaming network.

There’s no greater example of the power of the Xbox LIVE community than the “Halo” franchise. “Halo 2” has had an amazing run on LIVE, with a dedicated community more than five years after launch and well into the next generation of consoles. It has fundamentally changed the way we play video games. And while it’s difficult to see that run come to an end, the “Halo” franchise continues to act as the benchmark for multiplayer gaming in this generation, with “Halo 3,” “Halo 3: ODST” and soon “Halo: Reach” on Xbox 360.

Your Xbox LIVE community has grown to 23 million strong. And as we look down the road, we’ll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games. We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process.

We’ll share more details soon, but in the meantime I want to assure you that the best is yet to come for Xbox LIVE. I believe we’ll look back on 2010 as a landmark year in gaming and home entertainment, and I couldn’t be more excited about what we have in store with “Project Natal” and LIVE. The LIVE community is the driving force behind everything we do, and it’s because of the community that ground-breaking experiences on Xbox continue to be possible.

See you on LIVE,

Marc Whitten
Gamertag - Notwen
www.twitter.com/notwen

An olive branch would be a 360 adapted copy of Halo 2, free or severely reduced for Gold Subscribers.

Rezzy wrote:

An olive branch would be a 360 adapted copy of Halo 2, free or severely reduced for Gold Subscribers.

I've got a sneaking suspicion that if it were that easily adapted, they'd have already done so and plopped it onto Games on Demand.

This is from Jan 25th via major Nelson:

Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)
1 Halo 2
2 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
3 Counter-Strike
4 Splinter Cell Chaos
5 Fable
6 Conker: Live Reloaded
7 Star Wars: Battlefront
8 Doom 3
9 SW: KOTOR
10 SW: Republic Commando

Teneman wrote:
Rezzy wrote:

An olive branch would be a 360 adapted copy of Halo 2, free or severely reduced for Gold Subscribers.

I've got a sneaking suspicion that if it were that easily adapted, they'd have already done so and plopped it onto Games on Demand.

I think you're right. It sounds simple, but I'm sure there's back-end stuff we don't understand.

6 Conker: Live Reloaded
7 Star Wars: Battlefront
8 Doom 3
9 SW: KOTOR
10 SW: Republic Commando

Ok, in all honesty, who the heck is playing Doom 3 online!? I actually had that game at one point a month after it came out years ago and there were a whopping 2 people playing online. Is there a secret cult following of people out there who can't even tape a flashlight to their shotguns?

Wish I had these games so I could jump in and see how "lively" they actually are during prime time.

From Bungie.net:
Halo 2 on Xbox Live
Players Online:155
Unique Players (Last 24 Hours):3,627
Matches Logged (Last 24 Hours):5,917

Granted it is a weekday, but I think those numbers show that it is definately time to cut the cord.

LockAndLoad wrote:

Ok, in all honesty, who the heck is playing Doom 3 online!? I actually had that game at one point a month after it came out years ago and there were a whopping 2 people playing online. Is there a secret cult following of people out there who can't even tape a flashlight to their shotguns?

Wish I had these games so I could jump in and see how "lively" they actually are during prime time.

It's not just multiplayer. I think it's that they are logged into Live when they are playing. (ME2 is on the Xbox 360 list)

But yeah, I don't think there's a ton of single player Doom 3 going on, either. So you're probably right.

Good. The proportion of subscribers using the service for Xbox1 games must be a fraction of a percent. Sorry guys, but the other 99.96% of us want the future now.

Another plus side to this - That gamertag you've always wanted may become available if that person doesn't have a 360 to re-up their LIVE service.

LockAndLoad wrote:
6 Conker: Live Reloaded
7 Star Wars: Battlefront
8 Doom 3
9 SW: KOTOR
10 SW: Republic Commando

Ok, in all honesty, who the heck is playing Doom 3 online!? I actually had that game at one point a month after it came out years ago and there were a whopping 2 people playing online. Is there a secret cult following of people out there who can't even tape a flashlight to their shotguns?

Wish I had these games so I could jump in and see how "lively" they actually are during prime time.

I wonder how "game-able" the list is. Like, if we all grabbed a copy of some sh*tty original XBox game, and all played it one night, would that game make it into the top ten for the next week?

Or, is Doom 3 really just one dude who has had his console on and signed into Live for the past week, while he was on vacation.

jlaakso wrote:

It would be interesting to see some statistics about how many original Xbox games are still played over the current Live. I would've thought it's a very small number, but then again, Halo 2 was huge.

Halo 2 is consistently the number 1 most played Xbox Original game and according to Bungie.net, it has logged approx. 3600 unique user playing an average of 1.8 games each within the last 24 hours. Overall I am surprised it has taken this long for the support to be cut in favour of expanding the commonly requested dashboard features of the 25million+ Xbox 360 users (larger friends lists, integrated clan support).

With X10 scheduled next week, I suspect we will hear some interesting additions to the Live experience being announced (although I suspect they will not be ready to launch before April ).

skeletonframes wrote:

Another plus side to this - That gamertag you've always wanted may become available if that person doesn't have a 360 to re-up their LIVE service.

Good then maybe my old gamertag that's been stuck in limbo will become available by some miracle.

Remember though, Doom 3 on the original xbox had an coop campaign over Live. Maybe folks are still enjoying that together as opposed to DM.

Or were.

I have two original xbox's... it kinda brings a tear to my eye to think that another chapter in their lives is winding to an end. Then again, they are a bit neglected these days.

Why are we talking as though bigger friends lists / clan support is guaranteed? I agree some kind of move like that is probable, but to talk as if it's a done deal is a bit premature. They might be pushing for more social things like the game room, rather than the clans etc. which are for hardcore gamers, when the company is trying to shift brand image to families, movies etc.

I think this is a very sad and short-sighted, if business-inevitable, development. I'm thinking specifically of Lara Crigger's article in GameSpy last week about NCHEG and the discussion on the GWJCC about video game preservation. Halo multiplayer is, like it or not, a huge part of video game history, and to have that experience eliminated without a vision that is both forwards- and backwards-looking is unfortunate—to say nothing of every other original Xbox Live game out there. I don't know what the technological requirements or financial costs are of making a system that can move forward without leaving anything behind, but I'm not an engineer or an executive so I don't have to. I'm a quixotic library worker and anthropology grad so what I do know is that here is another case of our past being willfully forgotten, right in front of our eyes.

Jonman wrote:

Good. The proportion of subscribers using the service for Xbox1 games must be a fraction of a percent. Sorry guys, but the other 99.96% of us want the future now.

I'll reiterate that I don't see why this must mean forgetting the past. The video game industry has no pride whatsoever in its history. Maybe in paying lip service to it, but certainly not in keeping it alive or accessible.

Man, I still do play Chaos Theory online sometimes. That's kind of a bummer that that will go away since there's nothing really like it to replace it in the current generation. And, no, Double Agent doesn't count.

Gravey wrote:
Jonman wrote:

Good. The proportion of subscribers using the service for Xbox1 games must be a fraction of a percent. Sorry guys, but the other 99.96% of us want the future now.

I'll reiterate that I don't see why this must mean forgetting the past. The video game industry has no pride whatsoever in its history. Maybe in paying lip service to it, but certainly not in keeping it alive or accessible.

But it's not Microsoft's job to run a museum. It's their job to serve their customers, thereby making a profit for their shareholders. Corporations need to be forward looking, and I applaud them for doing that. It is, as you say, business-inevitable, but you can't ignore that in light of the (admittedly admirable) goal of documenting the history of the industry.

It could also be argued that Halo multiplayer is anything but forgotten. Haloes 3, ODST and Reach are carrying the torch forward, there's potentially terabytes of Youtube footage, articles and news stories on the series out there in internetland.

I guess in a way it's comparable with online DRM as far as game preservation is concerned. There's little profit involved for MS in keeping old-XBL alive (or money to be made in the improvements they can now do), so they take the short/medium term view and flick the switch.

Chiggie Von Richthofen wrote:

Man, I still do play Chaos Theory online sometimes. That's kind of a bummer that that will go away since there's nothing really like it to replace it in the current generation. And, no, Double Agent doesn't count.

Keep an eye on the info for the new Splinter Cell game! It looks like it at least takes some multiplayer cues from Chaos Theory.

Halo 2 multiplayer can still exist, it just can't exist over XBox Live. If people want to play, they still can. It's just significantly more inconvenient at this point.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft kicks out some "Halo Classic Edition" at some point in the future containing updated versions of Halo and Halo 2. Might be a few years, but nostalgia sells.

While I do feel a bit sorry for the dedicated Halo 2 players, I can't say that I fault Microsoft for this decision. They currently have tens or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people who cannot be allowed to access more advanced features due to a few thousand people playing a handful of legacy games.

This is a business we're talking about, and a publicly traded one at that. They have an obligation to do their best to generate revenue and increase their user base. While preservation of old games is a nice concept, it's really not something Microsoft is obligated to do any more than Wendy's is obligated to keep around the menu item that doesn't generate sales because nobody orders it anymore.

Halo 2 players are a blight on the industry. Blight!