Two decades later: the Xbox 360 games that shaped culture, community, and a generation of play

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The Xbox 360, which many consider Microsoft’s greatest console, recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, and it’s a reminder of how much time has passed. I remember getting one in elementary school as a reward for being good, which was pretty funny considering I got sent home from school that very same day!

Despite not initially having everything I needed, I convinced someone to let me open the box and get it working. For the first couple of years, I mostly played games by myself. It wasn’t until 2007 that the Xbox 360 really started to feel exciting, thanks to online features.

When Halo 3 came out, it completely transformed my gaming experience, and it was the first time I really understood the potential of Xbox Live. I was lucky enough to get the game a few days early thanks to a friend of my mom’s who worked at a local game store, and at ten years old, it felt amazing to have all my friends over to play.

A look through the top selling Xbox 360 games in the US

Thanks to data from Circana Retail Tracking Service, we can now see which games sold the best on the Xbox 360 in the US. While the *Call of Duty* series was incredibly popular, the overall sales numbers show just how diverse the console’s library was.

Here is the full list in order of sales:

  1. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
  2. Call of Duty: Black Ops
  3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
  4. Halo 3
  5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  6. Grand Theft Auto V
  7. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
  8. Halo: Reach
  9. Call of Duty: Ghosts
  10. Halo 4
  11. Rock Band
  12. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
  13. Grand Theft Auto IV
  14. Minecraft
  15. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
  16. Battlefield 3
  17. Red Dead Redemption
  18. Gears of War
  19. Gears of War 3

It’s really nice to see Halo 3 still ranking so well, though it’s understandable that Call of Duty appears higher up the list multiple times. At the time, a lot of people saw Call of Duty as an Xbox game first and foremost. That was largely due to things like getting exclusive access to downloadable maps earlier on Xbox, and the fact that Xbox Live was a much more established and reliable online service than PlayStation Network.

You know, I was reading about the Xbox 360, and it’s amazing to think they sold over 11.4 million headsets in the US alone! It really hits home just how important talking to friends and partying up online was for so many of us back then. It wasn’t just about the games; it was about the social experience, and that headset was a huge part of it.

The Xbox 360 sold an impressive 42.7 million units in the US, and it was the last time Xbox was the clear leader in the American gaming market. It also performed very well in places like the UK, where it felt incredibly popular.

However, looking back after twenty years, the Xbox 360 is remembered more for the experiences it created – the friendships made, and the countless late-night gaming sessions. Those games truly defined a generation of gaming and built a community that’s still thriving today, as evidenced by the continued popularity of franchises like Halo.

What Xbox 360 game had the biggest impact on you? Tell us your favorite and how it influenced your experience with gaming!

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2025-11-24 22:10