In a bit of surprising news, Microsoft announced today that their Xbox Fitness product is being discontinued.
Effective immediately, you won’t be able to purchase Xbox Fitness content, although existing users of Xbox Fitness will be able to continue to play the content they’ve purchased for a year, through June 30, 2017. But on July 1, 2017, Xbox Fitness will be removed completely and not available for anyone to download or play.
Those with Xbox Gold will still be able to play the 30+ workouts for free until December 15, 2016.
It’s a bit of shocking news, and if you read the comments on the blog post, you’ll see that a lot of people who purchased Xbox Fitness content (in some cases hundreds of dollars worth) are pretty upset. Usually when a game is no longer supported, those who paid for it would still be able to play it offline. That doesn’t seem to be the case here–it looks like on 7/1/17, they’re pulling the plug on the service–and the rug from under everyone who believed in it.
I would hope that at the very least Microsoft would provide some kind of compensation for the many who poured their hearts and their wallets into this product over the last two and a half years. I know for a fact that many people, including many readers of this blog, purchased their Xbox One primarily because of its potential in workout and fitness.
Perhaps one of the most troubling aspects of this announcements was Microsoft’s rationale, that they could not sustain it because “the service relies on providing you with new and exciting content regularly”. To me, this is a complete misunderstanding of their audience. Truth is, the point of an exercise video is to use the same video or set of videos over and over again once you find one that works for you. The appeal to the Xbox Fitness service wasn’t that I’d find a new video every week (although some product manager in Redmond might have had different opinions), it was a way to add a new dimension to ordinary exercise videos.
With this in mind, there’s a growing movement of people that are telling Microsoft on their Feedback Forum to convert Xbox Fitness into a standalone application so that those who purchased content can still use it. If you’re livid about this recent announcement, I’d suggest going to one of these threads, voting, and voicing your opinion.
Honestly, given Microsoft’s past history and the complexities of negotiating with every partner chances are slim they’ll do anything, but if they’re smart they’ll realize that keeping the service up on life support is not only a smart way to keep customers from revolting, it’s also a way for them and their partners to keep earning revenue at very little additional cost to them.
Failure to respond on Microsoft’s part is going to drive a stake in the heart of cloud-based content. Someone in Redmond isn’t seeing the forest through the trees–after this, who in their right mind would pay $50-$100 or more for DRM any more vs. a physical disc when they know that it can be taken away from them any time?
The good news is that there are still excellent options if you want to use your Xbox One for fitness–Kung Fu for Kinect and Shape Up being two of them. Let’s just hope that Microsoft’s throwing in the towel and giving up on their own technology doesn’t dissuade other publishers from continue to push it forward. And rest assured, as long as publishers continue to develop games for the Kinect that get you moving, I’ll still cover them here.
Absolutely disgusting, I’ve spent hundreds of pounds on full exercise programs and now you’re taking them back. How can that even be legal? You don’t buy something and then the vendor has the right to take it back !!
Noooooooooo
Chris Ruvolo…NO!!!!!!
Yeah, saw this earlier today. Wasn’t sure you used it anymore so I didn’t say anything. My best guess is since the Xbox One no longer requires the Kinect that the amount of people who actually have a Kinect is a very small number. Bummer too! I was thinking of getting back to it.
I love the kickboxing!
The most direct thing to do is probably to post a comment on their announcement page directly. https://microsoftstudios.com/news/2016/06/27/xbox-fitness-sunset-announcement/
In addition, someone set up a page on User Voice. https://xbox.uservoice.com/forums/363186–new-ideas/suggestions/15001341-do-not-shut-down-xbox-fitness
And of course, there’s Facebook and Twitter.
The most important thing is to be very vocal about it, as I know a lot of people are. At the VERY least they need to allow purchased games to be downloaded and used for free offline–and if there are additional licensing costs to pay, then they should just suck it up and pay them. It’s actually ridiculous for them not too–the technology is built already so it really wouldn’t be that difficult.
I don’t think Microsoft realizes the terrible precedent this sets for cloud-based content.
I didn’t even get to try it out but at least I can still do the Kinect games on my Xbox360 instead of going on my Xbox One and purchasing the content!
That seriously pisses off my friends and I, is there any way to contact Microsoft about this? Why not just keep it a free service without updating it? If people want to buy certain programs, let them. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal, my friends and I use this several times a week.
RT @xbox_fitness: Xbox Fitness from Microsoft is being shut down https://t.co/Uag37jEFED
Whattt???? Why???
I think there is a market for active games, but Microsoft seems to cater to the inactive and sedentary. I’ve anxiously searched for more physically-oriented games since I bought my Xbox One with the Kinect a couple of years ago, thinking it would eventually replace my Wii. It’s been a disappointment, because very few active games have been developed. What a waste of a platform with so much potential.
@xbox_fitness terrible news! I love xbox fitness
Wesley Ward and now I’m glad that we didn’t buy Insanity through XBox fitness.
Why is this being shut down. It’s the sole reason for me buying an xbox one kinect and live. I’ll just sell the console and buy a ps4. Never will I buy xbox again
https://microsoftstudios.com/news/2016/06/27/xbox-fitness-sunset-announcement/
Vote to keep xbox fitness and comment with ur complaints
And this is why you should buy a PHYSICAL disk for EVERYTHING.. Not only Microsoft but for things like COMCAST.. There is NEVER such a thing as a VIRTUAL LIBRARY.. it only works if YOU physically own the item vs leaving it on their servers.. Once the company decides they are done hosting your paid content and leave you end up with NOTHING.. If you have a PHYSICAL item then they technically can not take it from you..
Its only going to get worse in the future, the main reason they look forward to you not having a physical copy is so you can’t re-sell it at a cheaper price as well..
For some reason, i’m still able to play xbox fitness. It is July 6 of 2017