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Microsoft is shutting down Xbox Fitness

Microsoft is shutting down Xbox Fitness

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Xbox One owners are going to have to find another tool for working out in front of the TV: today Microsoft announced plans to shut down its Xbox Fitness service. Xbox Fitness launched more than two years ago, and since then has received a steady stream of updates, something Microsoft says is unsustainable moving forward. "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," says Microsoft’s Erica Bell. "Therefore, the decision has been made to scale back our support for Xbox Fitness over the next year."

The process will be a gradual one. Starting today the app will no longer be available for purchase from the Xbox store, though current users will be able to continue to use Xbox Fitness for the next year, ending on June 30th, 2017. On December 1st the Xbox Fitness 30-day free trial period — available for Xbox Live gold subscribers — will no longer be available. Finally, on July 1st of next year, Xbox Fitness and all of its associated content will no longer be available even for those who’ve purchased it. "We know that many of you have used Xbox Fitness to begin your fitness journey, to supplement it, or as a way to redefine your own fitness story," says Bell. "We’re glad we could be a part of the journey."

Xbox Fitness launched alongside the Xbox One in 2013, and was regularly updated with big new features since that time. Last March, for instance, the service gained the ability to sync up with Microsoft Health, connecting it to devices like the Microsoft Band. It was also one of the few remaining services to make use of the console’s second-generation Kinect camera for tracking things like heart rate and calories burned, though as of December Kinect was no longer required to use the app. (The next version of the console, the Xbox One S, won’t even feature a dedicated Kinect port.)


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