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Xbox has had a tough few weeks with layoffs, studio closings, and game cancellations. Now, there’s another change: users can no longer buy movies or TV shows from the Xbox or Microsoft stores.
As of today, these digital stores have closed (thanks, The Verge). You can still access any movies or shows you previously bought, but you won’t be able to buy new ones. To watch your content, you’ll need to use the app since it can’t be exported elsewhere.
Users Won’t Be Able To Buy New Content
This service started in 2006 and became the “Movies & TV” app in 2015. After ten years, Microsoft is ending it. There are many other entertainment options available on Xbox and Windows, so Microsoft likely expects users to switch to popular services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ instead.
This news isn’t surprising. Although Xbox was once thought of as the central entertainment system in living rooms, smart TVs have made the Xbox’s other features less important.
Microsoft and Xbox are cutting back on what they consider excess, having made four rounds of layoffs in the past year and a half, even though the company made $171 billion in profit last year.
This has upset many in the gaming community, especially as some important projects have been canceled. For example, Rare’s Everwild has been in development since 2014, and the cancellation of Perfect Dark affected the voice actor Alix Wilton Reagan, who lost a steady job. The halt of ZeniMax Online’s new MMO shocked the over 200 people working on that project.
No one knows what the future of Xbox looks like, with some thinking that the company might focus solely on being a game publisher and leave the console business behind.
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