Brief information for users who have ever been on the Microsoft Answers forum for Windows, Edge, Office or other Microsoft products or have visited the Xbox forum. Their days are numbered, everything is being moved to Microsoft Q&A.
I already came across the corresponding message in the Microsoft Answers forum on July 4, 2025 (see screenshot below).
After 15 years, Microsoft Answers has come to an end and the Xbox forums are also closing. The linked Microsoft Q&A pages are the places to go. For me it is the logical consequence – 15 years ago the Microsoft Newsgroups died and MS Answers was introduced.
For many years I provided free support there as a community moderator, but I also retired from the active phase more than five years ago. As I still had the community moderator role in my profile for some forums, I was able to escalate bugs to Microsoft moderators via the US versions of the MS Answers forums in recent years. But that should be over soon.
I remember numerous changes to the forum software, which meant that features disappeared or didn't work from time to time. Back in 2018, I expressed some thoughts on the decline of the forums in the German article Microsoft reduziert Support in Answers-Foren, na und? At the time, nobody could have guessed that the quality of the company's software would also plummet.
Just used that MS Q&A website – Xbox is not included as a service! You have to tag your question, but there's no Xbox tag, or anything close! Zero point using Xbox Support, as they just tell you to waste your life performing the same futile fixes, even though 90% of faults are from MS service outages.
Sadly/disgracefully, GPU price was raised by 50% to £23/m and yet Phil the Shill is only removing Xbox features and services, and only adding console Home/dashboard adverts!
The 360 literally had more features than an XSX!
For XSX he's removed: CD ripping/playlists (used by many 360 games, inc. GTA); Invert Y as default setting for all games; Audio/AUX out; Proper adult sized pads – the Duke was ergonomically correct for (non-Jap) hands to avoid RSIs; Custom dashboard existed, but was reduced to just 2 groups and replaced with adverts; Help forums deleted, as mentioned; Clip uploads delete after 90 days, were permanent; User Clubs removed in April '26; Countless developers closed, including Turn 10/Forza Motorsport; Broken/unfinished games released with zero testing (Forza MS 8); Picture in picture apps (Snap – app within app) gone; Games With Gold – idiots actually complained about those free games – now we get nothing (PlayStation still gifts 3, often very good, games each month); Ended Backwards Compatibility list – no further additions, with countless great games stuck on the ancient Xbox consoles; Poor mobile and free to play games are added to GP, as well beta games for subscribers to act as 'free' testers (actually paying MS to test!);…I am probably missing lots a Xbox features they've removed!
Broken untested games filled with microtransactions has become Phil's model. Ending disc releases, which were required to work on old consoles without patches, so MS can release unfinished games for £70, then fixed the price on their digital Store for decades.
Vile dwarf Spencer is obviously hoping to get the top MS CEO job when he's 70.