In our final roundup of the day from Xbox exec Jason Ronald's appearance on the Iron Lords Podcast this past weekend, the director of project management had some interesting comments to share about backwards compatibility.
Ronald was asked about the final batch of backwards compatible Xbox and Xbox 360 titles that dropped a week ago today (76 of them in all), and revealed that the team had actually been working on that selection of additions for over a year, with some specific games on the "wishlist" taking multiple years to nail down.
"To be honest, every title is a challenge, whether it's a technical issue, whether it's a licensing issue... So when we talk about reaching the limit of adding new titles to the program, trust me if there's a game that you wanted added to the program, we've tried. And in some cases we've actually tried for years to bring some of these titles to the program. Some of the titles that are in this batch, we've actually been working on for years."
To coincide with the 76 new backwards compatible additions, Xbox compatibility program lead Peggy Lo recently stated that no further titles would be added to the program moving forward, explaining that the team had "reached the limit of our ability to bring new games to the catalog from the past due to licensing, legal and technical constraints."
Ronald acknowledged this in yesterday's interview, but promised the team had done everything they could:
"Obviously it's disappointing that we can't add more titles to the program, but at the same time I can honestly say the team has gone above and beyond, and they were able to get titles that I never thought we'd be able to add to the program."
Have you been happy with this final batch of backwards compatible titles? Let us know down below.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 33
There we have it. Thank you Team Xbox for your efforts!
I remember reading a lot about this. It took a long of time and manpower to run the games, then to make games run as well as the original hardware and finally surpassing the original play.
Almost all the great (including both blockbustrs and niche) are there. Thanks for the effort. It is beyond the normal cash grab policies. Goodjob!
I got to play Skate 2 for the first time in 10 years with by partners brother over the weekend. We had such a blast from the past. Thanks for the effort and time!
No Kung Fu Chaos....so sad
If you want an idea of just how complicated this can be NoClips YouTube channel have a documentary on GOG and the similar challenges they have in adding older games to their catalogue. It’s insanely complicated. Props to the Xbox back compat team.
Still no Ridge Racer 6 despite being listed. Boo.
@jarvismp Have you gone on the old Xbox (360) marketplace and tried to buy it from there?
I tried inserting my Lego Lord of the Rings disc into my Xbox One console and got the message “Sorry, this game isn’t playable here”. Any ideas? I’m in Australia if that makes any difference.
Can you buy ridge racer 6 from the U.K xbox 360 store
struggling to get a physical copy. Have seen some selling for £100. Hopefully Microsoft can sort this out
@FraserG on the u.k store
@mac70 Hmm, it doesn't look like it. I know it was mentioned that some of the new backwards compatible games couldn't be added for digital purchases due to licensing reasons.
I assume Ridge Racer 6 is one of those, but not 100% sure.
@FraserG Do you have any idea if I can buy F.E.A.R on this old Xbox marketplace? Do you have a link to share?
@raftos https://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/FEAR-2/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802575207d3
I only found 2. Make sure you purchase it on a PC because I was trying to get Skate 2 on my phone and it wouldn't go through. Worked perfectly on my laptop.
@Halucigens Thank you mate!! Gonna try and see how it works.
@jarvismp I bought Ridge Racer 6 on Monday digitally when it was announced sir
@raftos No problem. Takes some tinkering and searching to find this stuff. I mostly just put [title] + xbox in a search engine and the b/c marketplace is one of the top results. Good luck
@mac70 You might have to buy it on another regions store. Not sure, don't quote me but here's the link
https://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Ridge-Racer-6/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8024e4d07d3
Looking forward to what the BC team do next. My money is on XB One improvements. Won't be for a while though.
@FraserG Yeah got same issues as with Daytona USA.
I will say I am incredibly grateful for Lego LOTR backwards comparability. Thank you for the hard work on this!!
@Axlroselm @gollumb82 Yep, it's nice to know some people in the industry aren't lazy do nothing's taking in paychecks for nothing. Amazing work Xbox team!
I wouldn't say all the great titles are here (Hulk UD, Lollipop Chainsaw, ect) but this has been amazing nonetheless.
@Quaali which country? It doesn’t show up at all in the UK
@jarvismp sorry buddy I'm in the United States.
I thank them for RE Operation Raccoon City. That was one of the few I wanted.
@Quaali no worries. Seems to be a UK issue
I have Ridge Racer 6, it only cost me £4.00 when purchased in 2015. How come it's going for £100 now? Why the massive increase?
I know the retro market is booming but that's mad..
After the event fear3 was available for 20 euro. Now it says unavailable all of a sudden =
Xbox is killing the game in supporting backwards compatibility. The ROI has gotta be low from a monetary perspective but great for gamers. Happy they put resources at all towards this, far more games than I would have expected for games I have had for 16+ years sitting on a shelf
Xbox is doing a phenomenal job on compatibility. Not just backwards, but also when it comes to cloud gaming and supporting both current and next-gen platforms.
@agito1987 been trying to nab FEAR 3 myself….just not available to purchase. Hope it’s not limited to disc only. Love the Fear series!
I hope they can move forward with some sort of emulation solution that can run all (or at least most) of the back catalogue. That way if you have an Xbox or 360 disc you can put it in the console and still play it. The PS3 did that at launch for PS and PS2 games.
That should, I hope, sidestep any legal or licensing issues as Microsoft should have the rights to make an emulator of their own consoles. They should hire people from the emulation community as they do amazing work for no reward (or often punishment). If MS are really serious about back compat and preservation then they need to follow through.
Sooo Crazy Taxi 3 High Roller was an issue? I figured a no brainer being most of Segas games made it and Space Channel 5 too no good I guess! Oh well
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