Tributes Flood The Gaming Industry As Halo Closes Its 360 Servers

It's a heartbreaking day for diehard Halo fans, that's for sure. With 343 Industries shutting down the servers on all the original Halo games, it marks the end of an era, meaning the only way players will be able to get their fix moving forward will be through The Master Chief Collection, and Halo Infinite.

As the guns unload three rounds to signal the end of the Xbox 360 servers, fans all over the globe are rushing to social media to share their deepest memories of its acclaimed multiplayer world. And some, believe it or not, are going as far as mopping up some outstanding achievements before they too go offline.

What servers will be shutting down on the 13th?

Today (13th), Halo Support will be shutting down the online services for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST, Halo 4, and Halo: Reach. Of course, owners of The Master Chief Collection will be able to continue, business as usual. Xbox 360 players, however, will lose access to all online counterparts from today.

Just to confirm, that does mean online Matchmaking, File Share, Service Record, Player Customization, as well all Challenges will be canned from today onwards. So, while the upgraded versions will stay afloat — its predecessors will regrettably capsize.

So, why the sudden announcement to can the 360 gems? Well, times are, of course, changing, and its devs are wanting to focus on the future of the franchise. While its earliest releases continued to rake in an adequate amount of frequent players, it was nothing compared to its modern day releases. And so, with that, Bungie will look to narrow its attention on the future of Halo moving forward. So, I suppose, this isn't goodbye…but see you soon.

You can follow the updates for the franchise over on the official social handle here. Also, seeing as you're here, why not share your best memories of Halo down in the comments below?