Microsoft has revealed that they plan to continue supporting the Xbox 360 for three more years, meaning we will be seeing games come out for the eight year console through to 2016. This will see the console reach its’ 11th year on the market.

The Xbox One’s release in November meant questions were raised about the future of its predecessor. Xbox chief marketing and strategy officer Yusuf Mehdi has assured people that there are approximately 100 games in the pipeline for the Xbox 360.

In a speech at the Citi Global Technology Conference, he said: “If you look at 360 that platform lasted for seven to eight years and it’s going to go for another three years. It’s incredibly profitable now in the tail.”

Mehdi also pointed towards the importance of continuing Xbox Live on the console during this time as a way to increase the profitability of the console. He stated: “We’ve seen our Xbox Live subscription service continue to grow,” adding: “We’re up to 48 million members now. We’re shipping more games than we’ve ever done before. Those are things I look to to say, ‘hey we can grow not just top line revenue but also profitability.'”

After the three years the Xbox 360 will be phased out in order to prioritise the Xbox One, with price drops coming to the new console during that time to ensure it keeps the price competitive.

If this does go according to plan and the 360 does bow out after 11 years, you could not help but be impressed with such a lifespan of a console, and I would congratulate Microsoft for the continued support for this much loved console.

[Source: EuroGamer]

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