Halo Reach player tries to claim Xbox 360 bonus code one day after servers shut down
BungieThe Xbox 360 era somehow ended 11 years ago, and the halcyon days of Halo, Fable and Gears of War seem further away than ever.
One thrifty player attempted to bring them back by claiming some bonus content for Halo Reach, only to find themselves stopped by extraordinary bad luck.
In a post on Reddit, one player asked the Halo community for advice after Xbox failed to accept their digital code. Unfortunately, (as one response pointed out) the Xbox 360 shut down the day before, less than 24 hours before the OP tried to claim their goodies.
The code in question was intended to grant some nice bonus content once claimed via Xbox Live. It’s also important to note that purchases for Xbox 360-era products will still go through on newer consoles and PC, but these hard copy codes can only be claimed on 360 consoles, where the store now no longer works.
The responses were predictably unsympathetic, given the age of the code. One said, “Brother, you’ve had 14 years to activate that code, and you choose to do it the DAY the store servers shut down.”
Others pointed out that the reliance on Xbox Live may have prevented him from using the bonus Halo items anyway. One said, “Not only do the codes not work anymore, the items can’t be used anymore even if you did claim them. The customization was tied to the online servers, so everyone is stuck with the default appearance now.”
Though the eventual outcome wasn’t particularly desirable, others were just happy to see that some were trying to keep the old console alive. One added, “Man, this bright back so much nostalgia. Thanks for that. That game will forever be my favorite, even as a lover of PlayStation. I’m glad I went with a PS3 late and had the 360 first. OG Reach was truly something else.”
The death of the Xbox 360 online services is undoubtedly sad, but many games are still able to be played via backward compatibility.