All good things must come to an end. It looks like online services will be coming to a close for Halo on Xbox 360 in December of 2021.

Announced via Halo Way Point, 343 shared that the studio will begin to sunset Halo Xbox 360 services to fully focus on the future of the franchise and most likely Halo Infinite. In one year from now, online services for Halo Xbox 360 titles will be discontinued. Owners of the game will still be able to play the games indefinitely, but some online features, such as online matchmaking, will be limited or disabled. 343 also mentioned that they intend to be very transparent about the transition and to keep players in the loop. Digital sales of the game have also been taken offline as of today.

The games that will be affected will be Halo: Reach, Halo 4, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Spartan Assault, and Halo Wars.

343 also included a chart that will show what aspects of each game will be supported later down the line. You can take a look at the chart below.

Halo Sunset

It is sad to see these services go, however, it was always inevitable. Halo on the Xbox 460 was a giant part of my childhood and early teen years. Playing Halo 3 online at 2 o'clock in the morning was one of my fondest gaming memories.

I think this would hit a little harder if 343 didn't do such an incredible job with The Master Chief Collection. That game truly contains everything needed to make it the ultimate Halo experience. While I am sad to see the original experiences go, the true Halo experience will live on through MCC.