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Microsoft Planning Three More Years Of Xbox 360 Releases

Xbox 360Just because Microsoft is gearing up to release its new Xbox One console in November doesn't mean that the Xbox 360 is being shown the door just yet.  While the company killed the original Xbox stone dead when the Xbox 360 launched in 2005, there are plans to support the X360 for another three years with another one hundred new releases in the pipeline.  It looks like Microsoft has learned something from Sony's success with the PlayStation 2 in a PlayStation 3 world.  Here's GameSpot with the details:

Microsoft chief marketing and strategy officer Yusuf Mehdi said this week that the platform will be supported through at least 2016. 

"If you look at [Xbox 360], that platform lasted for seven to eight years and it's going to go for another three years," Mehdi said this week during the Citi Global Technology Conference. "It's incredibly profitable now in the tail."  

Mehdi explained that the arrival of the Xbox One is not a death knell for the Xbox 360 by any stretch, noting that Microsoft plans to ship over 100 new games for the system.

There was an eager need to move on from the original Xbox to the Xbox 360, but the X360 has enjoyed enough success that it can co-exist with the Xbox One for a while without cannibalizing either console's sales.  There are just too many X360s out there for publishers to cut bait on the platform.  Better yet, Microsoft can start to reposition the X360 as its budget warhorse console that's cheaper than the Xbox One, but still plenty of fun with a large library of proven content behind it.  Sony is certainly going to reposition the PlayStation 3 in a similar role once the PlayStation 4 catches on.  Why kill a good thing when there's still new money to be made from it?

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