After some slow support, and few updates, Microsoft is abandoning their Xbox Original Program. Started back in 2007, the Xbox Originals were game for the original Xbox brought to the Xbox Live marketplace on the Xbox 360. It seems now they’re going to stop releasing anymore games for it.
The idea was a good one, more or less take their best Xbox exclusive games, make it available through direct download. I never used it, but largely due to owning hard copies of all of the games they had. It would have been nice to see Jet Set Radio Future on the marketplace though, maybe revive the series again.
Microsoft’s reasoning for this is that they believe they have “finished it’s portfolio” and will stop releasing any new games after one yet to be determined release. That’s not to say you won’t be able to download the games after they stop releasing new ones, you just won’t be seeing any new games. You can however expect to be able to download Xbox 360 games from the Game Marketplace later this year or early next year.