GTA Online being shut down for Xbox 360 in December 2021

Rockstar has revealed today that online services for GTA Online, L.A. Noire, and Max Payne 3 on last-gen consoles, will be shut down by December 2021. 

It’s been almost eight years since Grand Theft Auto V Online debuted on consoles on October 1st 2013, but at the end of this year, you’ll need a newer console to play it as it’s being shut down. 

The full shutdown will occur on the 16th of December 2021, but three months before that, Rockstar will be removing the ability to buy Shark Cards to stop players pumping money into a doomed game. 

According to the Rockstar Support post, once GTA Online is shut down all your progress and money on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 versions will be lost, as “there is no feature available to transfer character data or progress from those platforms.” 

It’s not just GTA Online’s online services that are being culled, as, on the 16th of September 2021, Rockstar will also be closing down online services for L.A. Noire and Max Payne 3 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. 

Online services for L.A. Noire and Max Payne 3 and GTA Online on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will end by Dec. 16, 2021. Story Mode for all three titles will remain playable. Please visit https://t.co/7sC6ORkHGK for details.

— Rockstar Support (@RockstarSupport) June 16, 2021

After online services are all dead and gone, you’ll still be able to play the single-player content for these titles as Rockstar confirmed in the tweet accompanying the support post, saying clearly that “Story Mode for all three titles will remain playable.”

As one generation of consoles leaves GTA Online, another will be joining, with PlayStation 5’s getting the standalone version of GTA Online on November 11th, followed up by Xbox Series X|S consoles in February after a three month timed exclusivity period.