Xbox To Shut Down Iconic Avatar Creation Program, But There's Good News

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Xbox is discontinuing its long-running custom Avatar software, Xbox Avatar Editor, next year. Originally released three years into the Xbox 360's life cycle, Avatars gave players a chance to create custom characters that looked just like them (or didn't), and have those characters represent them in various only interactions. Despite repeated evolution and innovation of the Avatar customization process, Avatars have been carried over faithfully across three generations of Xbox consoles, with players still able to use their Xbox 360 customization options on the Xbox Series X/S.

That program is coming to an end next year, though: the Xbox Avatar Editor is officially shutting down on January 9, 2025, according to a report by . Microsoft cited "" as the reason for the shutdown — i.e., few players are still making use of the Avatar Editor in 2024, and Microsoft would rather spend the time and money elsewhere. Pre-existing Avatars will become unavailable for further viewing or editing. Any cosmetic purchases made between November 2023 and the date of the shutdown will be refunded, as long as the player has a valid payment method on file.

Xbox Game Pass without consoles would give everyone a way to play games from Microsoft and others without spending a lot of money on a console.

However, there's a silver lining:Xbox Original Avatars, a recreation of the 360 version of the Avatar Editor, will remain available indefinitely. Playable on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S consoles, and Windows PCs, the Xbox Original Avatars app lets you create and edit custom characters just as before — albeit with limited customization options.

First introduced during the Xbox 360 era, the Avatar program was seen as something of a rival to Nintendo's Miis. They allowed for a greater sense of customization and ownership over a player's console experience, and could be used to distinguish between different users of the same device. But it wasn't long before Avatars actually became playable. Free titles