All Xbox 360 stores worldwide have been closed, marking the 19-year end of a gaming era as of July 29.

Microsoft Gaming released the first Xbox 360 on November 22, 2005, and over the years the console has developed over 250 exclusive games—80 per cent of which may become unavailable.

Xbox 360 has featured some of the world’s most popular games such as ‘Halo 3‘, ‘Gears of War‘, ‘Fable II‘, ‘Forza‘ and ‘Mass Effect‘ which helped solidify the console’s place within the gaming community. Beyond gaming, it became a central hub for entertainment, enabling users to stream films, listen to music, and connect with friends.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Spencer, in an interview with IGN in June following the closure of numerous studios, said, “The closure of any team is hard obviously on the individuals there, hard on the team.”

“I haven’t been talking publicly about this, because right now is the time for us to focus on the team and the individuals. It’s obviously a decision that’s very hard on them, and I want to make sure through severance and other things that we’re doing the right thing for the individuals on the team. It’s not about my PR, it’s not about Xbox PR. It’s about those teams (sic),” he added.

The industry has experienced numerous significant staff cuts, including Sony, Riot, and Epic, resulting in hundreds of job losses, ultimately leading to the dissolution of 360 altogether.

Some games will remain available (though we don’t have that list yet), but “digitally owned and disc-based backwards compatible games will continue to play, as we plan to continue to support Original Xbox and Xbox 360 backwards compatible games on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles as part of our commitment to backward compatibility,” Xbox.com.

“Sometimes I have to make hard decisions that frankly are not decisions I love,” said Spencer.