Halo fans on current and last-gen hardware have a lot to be happy about at the moment. The long-awaited Halo Infinite is available on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. Infinite's free-to-play multiplayer and open-world campaign has been a hit with fans and critics alike, including a spot on CBR's best games of 2021 list. For players who prefer the classic, critically acclaimed Bungie-developed games, Halo: The Master Chief Collection offers remastered versions of every Halo First Person Shooter that appeared on the Xbox 360.
Things aren't so rosy for Halo fans that haven't left the original 360 games behind, though. A recent announcement from the Halo Support team marks the end of an era for 360 diehards. Most of the online services for 7th generation console's Halo games are about to be shut down permanently as 343 Industries shifts its focus to Halo's future.
What Servers Shut Down On Jan 13?
Halo Support has announced that the Xbox 360 servers for the platform's Halo games will shut down on January 13. That includes all of the first-person shooters that the franchise is known for: Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST, Halo 4, Halo: Reach, and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, a remake of the first game in the series. Halo 4 and Reach will lose the most online features when the servers shut down. That includes Matchmaking, Fileshare, Service Record, Challenges, Player Customization, and MOTD. Halo 3 and ODST will retain Service Records and Player Customization but lose everything else, including ODST's extras. Combat Evolved Anniversary and the two Halo games outside of the FPS genre, isometric shooter Spartan Assault, and real-time strategy game Halo Wars will be unaffected by the server shutdown. While this will be a crushing blow for anyone who still enjoys playing Halo on their 360, it also affects players on current hardware. Players who passed on The Master Chief Collection and continue to play the 360 Halo games on the Xbox One and Series X|S will also lose online functionality when the servers shut down on the 13th. While the games can be played on current hardware, they're still beholden to the 360's servers for online multiplayer. The sunsetting of the 360 servers affects more than just multiplayer. Some achievements will no longer be available after the shutdown. That includes achievements that require online matchmaking and challenges. Legacy Avatar Awards, which provide your digital Xbox doppelganger with cosmetics when specific achievements are unlocked, will also cease to exist. If you've always wanted the Halo 3: ODST armor for your avatar, time is running out to unlock the Good Samaritan achievement on the 360.
What Halo Multiplayer Options Will Still Be Available?
Multiplayer will still be possible on the 360 when the servers are shut down, although it will almost entirely be local play. Players can still play the Halo games' multiplayer modes in the most old-school ways. All of the FPS Halo games on the 360 have split-screen modes that 360 diehards can take advantage of after the servers are shut down. Throwing a LAN party is also an option, although it's not ideal given that we're still dealing with a pandemic. Custom Games and the Forge Mode are also still playable in a post 360 server world for Halo 3, Halo 4, and Reach. Online Squads will still be available post-shutdown for all FPS games except for Combat Evolved Anniversary. It's a functional set-up for players who can still participate in couch co-op, but it will be hard to go back to after so many years of seamless online multiplayer. While the Halo FPS games are about to lose key online features, the two spin-offs in other genres aren't. Fans of Spartan Assault and Halo Wars will continue to enjoy matchmaking on the 360 and through backward compatibility. That's excellent news for Halo Wars fans who never picked up the enhanced Definitive Edition for Xbox One or PC and still enjoy an online skirmish in the first Halo RTS.
The end of online support for the 360 Halo games is also the end of an era. While The Master Chief Collection is a more than adequate substitute for the original games, it's still a bittersweet moment for Halo fans. Whether they have fond memories of the hours they once poured into 360 Halo or they never stopped playing it, the days of Slayer marathons on Xbox Live will soon be a thing of the past for good.