Xbox 360 Expects Three More Years Of Support

Just as Sony supported the PS2 long after the release of the PlayStation 3, Microsoft chief marketing and strategy officer Yusuf Mehdi said in a conference earlier this week that the Xbox 360 will be supported through 2016 at the earliest.

During the Citi Global Technology Conference, Mehdi reminded observers that, “If you look at [Xbox 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. We are going to continue to invest in Xbox 360 and the two devices can work in concert. So it isn’t like the day we ship the Xbox One your [Xbox 360] won’t work.”

This decision made by Microsoft extends beyond the expected support of cross-gen gaming previously stated by EA Games, who plan on equal attention and support for both consoles into the next two years. However, as shown by FIFA 14 and the fact that you can play a PlayStation 2 version of the game, there may be some annualized sports games that receive a longer treatment on the Xbox 360.

GameSpot has noted that, “Microsoft plans to ship over 100 new games for the system.” What exactly the types of Xbox 360 games and through what medium (Xbox Live Arcade, disk-based, etc.) they will be delivered has yet to be determined, or even the tempo in which these games would be released over the next three years.

The Xbox One leads Microsoft into the next generation of gaming on November 22nd in 13 different countries.