After passing on Xbox 360 backwards compatibility when initially unveiling the Xbox One, Microsoft has had a real change of heart about the feature. Phil Spencer announced this past E3 that Xbox 360 backwards compatibility was coming to Xbox One in chunks, and he later mentioned that he’d like to make original Xbox games playable on his company’s current-gen console at some point.
Now he’s revealed his goal of making Xbox 360 games playable on PC and again stressed his desire to bring original Xbox backwards compatibility to the Xbox One.
“[Xbox games on Xbox One is] something I want to do, but it is a matter of priority,” the head of Xbox recently told Gizmodo Brazil as was translated by Cinema Blend. “I would love to have the ability to play Xbox 360 on PC at some point too, so we have different things we have to think about when we plan these things. But it would be great to have support for original Xbox games. So yes, I want it, but we have many other things we want to do as well.”
Between its November 2005 launch and now the Xbox 360 saw well over 1,000 retail games and north of 700 Xbox Live Arcade games release for it. Many of those games never made their way over to PC, so backwards compatibility would offer PC-only gamers their first crack at the 360’s impressive library.
There is no telling when (if ever) Microsoft could make those last-gen titles playable on PCs, and the Xbox team is currently focusing many of its resources on making those games playable on Xbox One starting in November. One hundred titles will be supported when the feature exits the Xbox Preview Program and enters full release next month.
“I was…more than surprised,” Spencer said of the popularity of the feature’s announcement back at E3. “The team that made the backward compatibility of work [sic] was in the audience, and it was really cool to see them feeling the fan reaction to the work they were doing.
“The Xbox now has a long history, going through the original Xbox, the 360 and the One. It was a great time for people to understand that, as a platform development team, we want to create features that will appeal also to the old Xbox gamers. We will not charge money for backward compatibility, not charge subscription, you have the game and can play it on Xbox One. And the reaction was fantastic.”
Source: Gizmodo Brazil via Cinema Blend