Talking Point: Next Year Marks A Decade Since Xbox's Genius Backwards Compatibility Program

I didn't even knew this was a thing. I was so used to Sony that my mind was blown when I got my first Xbox.
It's incredible how much more appealing the offer is.

if they had backwards compatibility at launch of the xbox one in 2013 things might have been different for xboxs fortunes

ps4 had no backwards compatibility

Back compat and FPS boost are the key reasons I stuk with Xbox this gen (not forgetting auto HDR).

I'd love to see an expansion of the FPS boost program, eg for those games being held back by rights issues - particularly if those rights are held by Activision!

@trev666 all they had to do was not force online , kinect, and talk about tv & the xbox one would’ve sold like the ps5 did - by virtually doing nothing because of the goodwill of it’s predecessor.

and not charging $100 more

I'm disappointed the PGR games never made the jump, but oh well, we can't have everything in life 🤷‍♂️

BWC is still my favourite modern Xbox feature. I've been snatching up the more expensive delisted BWC 💿 games lately like King Kong, 50 Cent and Deadpool (XBO). 🤗

@nomither6 And not say "used & borrowed game discs won't work".

It's definitely one of the greatest innovations over the last few generations.

Hopefully they can do something special for the 10 year anniversary

@FuzzieGinge88 😭😭

I still call BS on them saying they 'reached the limit with what they could do' with the program, unless the original Xbox One was just that bad. If that's the case now that the XBO is out, maybe the program could be revived for Series consoles that should have no excuses, possibly starting with some Activision games. ... RIP the dream of the two 2024 Transformers projects though.

Although it says a lot about gaming from the XBO/PS4 to Series/PS5 when something that excites the most people is playing old games.

It is an amazing feature a properly consumer friendly approach I love it!

It never ceases to amaze me how Nintendo (and to a lesser extent, Sony) is sitting on a mountain of gold in the form of old IP’s and yet their BC is trash (NSO and PlayStation classics aren’t what I’m looking for—I want to pop an old disc/cartridge in and play), while Xbox has so very little worth replaying in the back catalogue and their BC is second to none. It’s so utterly backward. Should be called Backwards backward compatibility.

@shoeses I think licensing had far more to do with what they could do as opposed to the tech. Remember this program required them to essentially patch a game, meaning they did need the consent to do each title.

And for me, while Backwards compat was definately huge for last gen, this gen is the autoresume feature(I forget the buzz word MS used). I like to play 4-6 games simultaneously, so being able to seamlessly hop in and out of them is such a time saving endeavor. My PS5 Pro only allows 1 game to be resumed, and its painfully noticeable to me.

@EVIL-C i completely forgot about that nonsense . it’s crazy how hard they shot themselves in the foot

@Balaam_ hard Disagree on Nintendo. While their service might not be great, it's still a full download and emulation, and they also had Virtual Console for two straight generations allowing purchases of old games.

Sony were hesitant to even re release PS1 or PS2 games when people were willing to pay.

@Balaam_ I can see that working for most of Sony's offerings (Vita excluded). But the Switch was a brand new format. I cannot see a feasible way of making any Nintendo physical media playable on the Switch or the Switch 2

PGR or riot.

Not sorry, my follows, my rules. I'm not paid to kick out trolls unless overtime is being offered.

No rush.

@nomither6 As much as I prefer the Xbox hardware, this is still the greatest gaming troll since the E3 1995 PS1 "two ninety nine" one sentence speech. 😂

Well played here, Sony. 🍷🧐
https://youtu.be/kWSIFh8ICaA?si=H1SB09L3QUQ_EYRI

@Balaam_ Virtual Console was on wii and wiiu. People complained about pricing, upgrades on wiiu and selection while buying the same popular games over and over. NSO likely saves Nintendo on licensing and since they curate the library they (mostly) focus on the games people keep buying every gen. Other than that they changed media with the switch so physical bc would have not worked. Xbox’s bc is great but they also iterate their consoles making it easier to pick up and toss to the next system. Plus Nintendo already said NSO is going to the successor. Plus many games are a licensing nightmare to port forward. Plus no VC meant more collections with games that VC didn’t get and more retro games overall.

@EVIL-C i remember that ad too well, it made me look at xbox one as if i was gonna waste my money because the early years were really THAT bad, but i bought one anyway because i loved the 360

i eventually got a ps4 though , so i agree - well played 😂

Personally I don't really get BC because the gaming technology is moving forward and the old games look terrible and play awfully clunky compared to newer ones. I get that maybe you like the story etc. but I just can't get past the oldness. I can't be the only one like this.

I even have an entire dump group on my Xbox Series X essentially called "Xbox360 and earlier clunkers" which are basically unplayable to me and wish I hadn't even wasted time trying. Perfect Dark Zero is a particular example to me, as it's a game that I should really really enjoy in theory, but I just can't get past the clunkyness. So looking forward to the Perfect Dark reboot instead.

Just my two cents

My local retro game store has stopped labeling game as backwards compatible due to some games being removed from the service.

I'm still waiting on Pitfall Lost Expedition.

PC has old CODs now, how long to wait for Xbox to offer them? Got the PS2 versions as got sick and tired of waiting for the licenses/offering to happen.

Game selection/support is fine.

The FPS boost and other touches are nice but game lineup is hit and miss. Some titles surprise are supported but others lack.

Licenses are what they are, for movie tie ins/racing I don't expect much but for others yeah it lacks a bit.

Left behind PS3/360 IPs stay that way. It seems which is kind of annoying. More reasons to pick up these old consoles then.

I don't expect all games to be backwards compatible, not all need to or can't but in some cases there are many I wish were.

No Blur/PGR is sad but they are licensed but fake vehicle games with no licenses would be nice to see more of sigh.

But no Kingdom Under Fire, any of them is odd.

Some others even. No Brute Force even?

Voodoo Vince getting a remaster was nice as on 360 it couldn't and had a code conflict.

But Blinx 2? You really want to keep it dead Microsoft like you killed it with Halo 2's release? What a great idea, you want more sales for it or source code nah why bother you killed it and won't give it another chance and go oh it didn't sell well why offer it well you did it in the past ruin it's chances, so you give it even less chances to exist for those with no idea the 2nd game exists and being a more action based title it actually suits the Xbox audience besides the first game having it's fair moments but still a tough puzzle game. But oh well stuck on OG Xbox it is then.

I doubt many Wii IPs ever go to a Ubisoft service and never will. So like I think much of other companies supporting some consoles old games.

Then again many companies the licenses/lack of care or source code/their control over it matters more or it didn't sell well so why give it a 2nd chance. None of them care, only the successful are kept and everything else they go eh when we feel like it/never.

@shoeses I agree, while many companies of the OG Xbox era are dead or ownership changed or IPs are in licensing whatever state these days.

It is odd they got 50+ or so and go well we can't get the licenses or source code because ouyr publishers are too lazy and don't care enough.

Or go eh 360 is enough, we will offer OG Xbox but really can't be bothered.

That's the kind of response the 'we reached the limit' gives off.

Licensing troubles which I think they said was the reason, staff pushed to other projects or lack of interest/exhaustion which are also likely.

Or they go eh we tired and want to work on something else and our staff are being stretched thin or some other factor.

It just seems off.

360 era it was to support Kinect or gave up. But this time it seems either gave up again, licenses/publishers were dead or complicated to get access to or publishers are just lazy.

They could reverse engineer if they wanted to.

As if Spyro Reignited didn't have the tech ontop of the OG games for re-modelling, but they can't put effort into BC anymore.

It begs questions.

With the amount of PS3/360 era shooters left behind not just the 'main ones' these publishers care about I highly doubt it.

Movie tie ins or racing games sure it's tricky but for some it seems source code, licensing, laziness or lack of interest in supporting them then actually testing them in the BC environment and saying oh they don't work as they did many others likely and got them working enough even OG Xbox some are rough but still offered for BC regardless of their rough states. Did the standards go up?

I don't know why they don't continue the backwards compatibility program but expand it to the series Xbox. They could port or patch the original games so they could run exclusively on the series Xbox or better. Perhaps there are titles that are hard to get running on the X1 but might have little problem run on the series Xbox. I think they should consider reintroducing a new Xbox arcade which brings over classic arcade X360 titles over to the series Xbox.

As others have said I call BS on not getting other titles. Its frustrating because many Microsoft games never came to back compat and we saw no new Activision games that could have come after the merger. It was a great feature but lets be honest the last update was in November 2021 the one before that was in summer 2019 when the regular weekly / fortnightly updates ended. As much as it was a consumer friendly thing to do and Microsoft was rightly praised for it. Since 2021 they are the only console manufacturer that hasn't added any new legacy titles to its storefront or subscription service. I hope this eventually changes but we all know that it wont.

Still the only reason I keep my Series X.

It's a great feature, and means that I still keep an eye out at second had shops for games I can still play. I've picked up TimeSplitters 2 and 3, Black, Spec Ops the Line (not available digitally any more), and others for cheap.

Though that they stopped the program, and there's still so many great games missing (most licensed games for example) means it's just not what it could have been.

Almost all games I've played this year are from the OG Xbox and 360. I would have played even more, if they expanded the program.

@nomither6 As angry as I was with the XBOs launch, and ultimately going with PS4 at launch, I eventually got a XBO S on launch and quickly gained appreciation for it, the BWC really being a key factor.
Also bought a XSX at launch, with an extra controller (on the same bill), and through a mix-up/clerk error with returning that unopened extra controller a few days later, the store accidentally refunded me the entire console, which they never noticed! 😂 😂

Would've be cool to see more resolution boosted 360 games, and maybe achievements and widescreen hacks in original xbox games that dont support it like morrowind

This move, and removing the kinect to sell Xbox One at $400 a year before this, are reactions to a launch so damaging that it torpedoed the brand forever. Had these 2 things been the case at the announcement the state of Xbox today would be very different.

So you're telling me it's been 10 years since xbox did anything exciting. Feels about right.