Microsoft’s pro-exercise app Xbox Fitness will be closing its doors for good come July 1, 2017, the company has announced. Speaking on the Microsoft Studios website (via VideoGamer), the program’s community manager Erica Bell said, since launching in 2013, “Xbox Fitness has allowed you to experience the world’s best workouts with famous trainers, right in the comfort of your own home,” adding that the closure has come about due to the unrealistic prospect of “updating the service regularly in order to sustain it.”
As a service, Xbox Fitness has continually evolved since it launched on Xbox One, with new content and ongoing updates. Given the service relies on providing you with new and exciting content regularly, Microsoft has given much consideration to the reality updating the service regularly in order to sustain it. Therefore, the decision has been made to scale back our support for Xbox Fitness over the next year, and we want to provide our users with a timeline of the changes you will see.
That aforementioned timeline and the changes on the way can be seen below.
- Beginning, June 27, 2016, Xbox Fitness content will no longer be available for purchase. For existing users of Xbox Fitness, the content you’ve purchased will be available to play for a year, through June 30, 2017.
- On December 15, 2016, we will be removing our “Free with Gold” offer. Until then, Gold members will still be able to access and play the over 30+ workouts available for streaming as a part of this offer for free.
- On July 1, 2017, Xbox Fitness (and all associated content) will no longer be available for download/play. This includes content you’ve purchased. At that time, Xbox Fitness will no longer be available for download from Xbox Marketplace and content will not be available for play from the Xbox Marketplace nor within the game. Xbox Fitness users will no longer be able access Xbox Fitness and the associated workouts/programs.
In other words, come July 1, Xbox Fitness will be gone for good, and those that have already purchased additional content will need to use it prior to the above date before it becomes useless. In what should come as no surprise to Microsoft however, those that have spent money on the service have flocked to the announcement post to voice their disappointment over the closure. Microsoft has yet to confirm if customers can apply for refunds on previously-purchased content, but we’ll let you know if they do.
