Microsoft has announced that it will support the Xbox 360 for three more years before phasing it out in 2016.

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“ It's not like the day we ship Xbox One your 360 won't work. We'll continue to support it.

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Eurogamer reports that Xbox chief marketing and strategy officer Yusuf Mehdi explained at the Citi Global Technology Conference yesterday that the eight year-old console could expect to see over 100 new games before that time comes, however."You've seen us over the years constantly be focused on profitability and improving year over year," he said. "There are different points in the cycle of when you invest in new hardware."Some of these things take some time in the launch year in which you invest, and then they they play out over time."Mehdi was adamant that the launch of the Xbox One wouldn't have a negative impact on the Xbox 360, insisting the two can and will co-exist happily until 2016 with over 100 new games coming to the older console."We're going to continue to invest in Xbox 360, and the two devices can work in concert," he said. "So it's not like the day we ship Xbox One your 360 won't work. We'll continue to support it."If this comes to pass, it'll mean the Xbox 360 will have had an incredible 11 year life cycle, seeing as it launched in November 2005.What do you reckon, are you sad to hear Microsoft will stop supporting the Xbox 360 in three years or do you expect most people will have made the leap to next-gen by then? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter