Xbox's backwards compatibility program might have been wrapped up with the addition of 76 more titles this past November, but Xbox Director of Project Management Jason Ronald says its influence will live on for years to come.
In an interview with TechRadar, Ronald explained that the Xbox team had learned many lessons as a result of the program — and suggested that the entire industry was also learning about the future of game preservation from it:
“I think over the course of this program, we've learned a lot about game preservation, whether it's technical decisions, the way that games are actually ingested into the catalog, the way that we sign contracts and deal with licensing, and whatnot. I think it's actually informing not only us but the entire industry of what we can do to preserve these games moving forward.”
While Xbox has no plans to introduce any further backwards compatible titles from the original Xbox and Xbox 360 libraries in the future, Xbox One games will naturally continue to be backwards compatible by default.
And, as part of the interview, Ronald assured Xbox fans that backwards compatibility will continue to be an influence when Microsoft decides to create the next set of consoles, just as it was with the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S:
“When designing the Xbox Series X and S, backward compatibility was a tenant of the program from day one and actually influenced the design of the silicon, the design of the hardware. It was like, ‘Okay, how do we make sure that these games not only work but play better than ever before.’ So absolutely, as we think about future devices, as we think about future platforms, we're always thinking about what unique things can we do to enhance or optimize these games?”
Although the program might be finished adding new titles, the Xbox team has recently been busy correcting a few backwards compatible issues with the likes of TimeSplitters 2 and Gladius, so the work isn't finished just yet!
What are your thoughts about Ronald's comments on game preservation? Let us know down below.
[source techradar.com]
Comments 33
It's stuff like "Ronald assured Xbox fans that backwards compatibility will continue to be an influence when Microsoft decides to create the next set of consoles" that makes me glad to be purchasing games on Xbox. If someone buys a game like Jade Empire or Gears Tactics today, they can expect them to be playable on the next-gen Xbox system. It's having a universal system like we see on PC that makes Xbox a great ecosystem to invest in.
@LtSarge I agree though to be fair those same tenets were in the PS5's philosophy too. Glad to see the industry changing here. I think they both realise it's in their favour to do so, locking you into their ecosystem with a digital library. Now we just need Nintendo to get onboard so we don't have to buy Super Mario Bros again and again and again.
@themightyant Hardly. Sony did backwards compatibility for PS4 games on PS5 only kicking and screaming. They wanted to continue the idea of reselling the same game 5 times.
@themightyant I feel like we're not quite there yet with PlayStation because you can't play PS1, PS2 and PS3 games on PS5. They had a good thing going for a while where you could play PS1 games on PS3 and Vita but then they abandoned that going into PS4. Nintendo is especially bad because they too had a good thing going with Wii and Wii U but messed it up with Switch. The fact that you can't play any of the games you've bought on past Nintendo systems on the Switch is absolutely terrible. It highlights one of the main issues that consoles have struggled with for so long and that's creating a universal system. You can't be forced to constantly repurchase the same game over and over every time a new system comes out.
@Trmn8r Any evidence of that? The AMD chip in the PS5 is deliberately designed to clock down to mirror the one in PS4. That doesn't happen overnight and has to be designed in from the outset, years in advance. PS4 & PS5 architect Mark Cerny confirmed this as did AMD. Always a part of their plan.
@LtSarge I agree not quite there on PS.
The abandonment for PS4 was two fold I think 1) Emulating Cell in PS4 was not possible 2) Sony lost on PS3 gen partly due to price, which in part was down to launch PS3 having separate chips for BC. Sadly skipping both for PS4 was probably the right call and one of the reasons why it succeeded.
Though you can play PS1, PS2 and PS3 on PS5 via PS now. No it's not perfect and not proper BC as it's paid. But it IS a form of game preservation. And in truth Xbox's solution isn't proper BC either, it's just using the disc for authentication to download an emulated version of the original game. Clever stuff, and slightly amazed their licensing agreements allow it. Great for us!
Also to be clear Xbox isn't fully backwards compatible. At last count only around 63 original Xbox games (around 6.3%) are Backwards compatible and around 632 Xbox 360 games (around 29%). The vast majority of these have also been remastered so are playable in another newer form anyway without BC.
For me the game changer is FPS boost, X enhanced etc. Favourite Series X|S feature. This sets MS apart and means I want more of my digital library on Xbox.
Regardless this is where i'm hoping that console manufacturers have realised this is important for them going forward.
And Nintendo will always do their own thing sadly.
@LtSarge well the Switch uses cartridges while Wii U and Wii use CDs so… idk how that will work.
As for 3DS backwards compatibility, I am not sure on that front.
Perhaps in the next Switch, there will be backwards compatibility
@themightyant Explains the lack of PS3 BC on PS4, but not the lack of PS1 and PS2 BC on PS4.
No, you can't play PS1 games on PS5 via PS Now and you can only play a handful of remastered PS2 games on PS5 via PS Now.
Those are 700 more games that are backwards compatible on Xbox than on PlayStation.
People keep badgering on about sony and their backward compatibility practises, but they don't seem to point out Nintendo who charge full price for ports which have hardly no enhancements and look at the switch which is cartridge based so the switch can't play any wii or wiiU games and if nintendo make a future console with a disk drive then that won't be able to play switch games.
I think both Xbox and PS are on the right track.
I'd imagine when both release another gen of consoles, they'll be back-compat.
The main culprit still is Nintendo. Zero back-compat and reselling us basic ports for full price. This is why Switch is the only console I buy physical games for still, as I have zero confidence they would take my digital purchases forward a generation.
@themightyant Yeah, because last gen, Xbox One started multi-generational backwards compability so that the demand became higher with Playstation users. I get the PS3 problem with the cell structure on PS4 (that was a design mistake), but there was no PS1-PS2 and there still isn't. PS5 should be able to emulate PS3 as well at this point, so it's pretty obvious that they didn't want to do backwards compatibility and were strongarmed to at least do PS4 back compat as the bare minimum this generation.
@LtSarge Exactly!
These topics always make me mad. Just the complete out of touch mentality of the gatekeepers of the industry. Consoles have been backcompat since the PS2 era. Digital gaming on consoles have existed since the 360 generation. PC exists. But woaaah~ NOW they're starting to learn. My God, It's enough to make you want to pull your hair out. Better late than never I suppose.
@LtSarge @Trmn8r PS1 & PS2 on PS4 as I said they had separate chips in the launch PS3 for backwards compatibility for those systems, these were removed in later models to cut costs after it bombed. Likely didn't want to do the same for PS4 to keep costs low. The X86 architecture is very different from the RISC processors in PS1 & PS2.
You're right about PS1 games, my bad, hadn't checkout out PS Now's library for a while. It appears to be coming with Spartacus.
Though if you are talking pure numbers then there are also an additional 400-500+ last gen (PS4) games on PS5 to offset that 700 a little, this is because
1) PS4 has a larger library by around 400 titles than XBO
2) It doesn't have the Kinect problem i.e. a whole subset of games that don't work on next gen. (EDIT: this is the right call)
To be clear I am playing devil's advocate here. I don't think pure numbers are all that important. But until the final round of additions from MS last November there were actually more BC titles on PS because of those two reasons.
Personally I have more faith in Microsoft to make all the current BC titles BC again next gen where possible, and perhaps do an FPS boost equivalent, than I do in Sony to do the same. Hence I want more of my library on Xbox. But it's good to see them both moving in the right direction. I hope it will be more like PC and we get to carry our library with us 'forever'.
@isturbo1984 Agree it's maddening that it's 'revelatory'
Weirdly Nintendo used to be pretty good about this with non-digital, but only on handhelds. Switch has broken a long line of successive BC handhelds.
@themightyant It doesn't matter how many BC titles there are in total, what matters is which systems they are from. As I said, those are 700 more Xbox and Xbox 360 backwards compatible games than what PlayStation would correspondingly have in terms of PS2 and PS3 titles.
@LtSarge That isn't what you said. You said "Those are 700 more games that are backwards compatible on Xbox than on PlayStation." BC includes XBO and PS4 gen too so that isn't true as I pointed out, but I agree numbers are less important than systems... and we're in the weeds.
@themightyant You pointed out Xbox and Xbox 360 games, the correspondents are PS2 and PS3 titles. Why would you think that I meant Xbox One and PS4 as well?
@LtSarge The whole article is about backwards compatibility and game preservation. If you're not going to include some platforms that's not exactly a level playing field!
If we're including Game Preservation PS Now has 446 PS2 and PS3 titles. (Aware it's not standard BC but probably more the model we'll get going forward with sub services like Game Pass so interesting as part of the conversation)
@themightyant You were talking about how there isn't full backwards compatibility on Xbox. You said that there is only a certain amount of Xbox and Xbox 360 games. I responded directly to that by saying those are 700 more games on Xbox than on PlayStation. We're discussing Xbox and Xbox 360 games, therefore in the context of what we're discussing, what I said made sense. However, if you were to read my post separately from all the other ones we've made, then yes I can understand why there would need to be clarification. But you're an active participant in this discussion so I shouldn't need to be pointing out everything word-by-word for you to understand what I mean. If you're not paying attention to what we're talking about, then that's completely on you.
@LtSarge Crossed wires, understood.
Ultimately i'm just happy that more of the manufacturers are embracing game preservation as part of their focus. Whether that be Microsoft's going "above and beyond" approach to backwards compatibility or Sony's lesser but still decent PS4 BC and PS Now.
In the end it allows games to keep being played on modern systems which is all I want. Nintendo take note.
@Medic_Alert Not a hot take at all. MS's brilliant and innovative solution IS server dependant. It isn't real backwards compatibility as the disc is just used for authentication to download an emulated version of the game. But it is a form of game preservation.
But it is better than the competition for now. Agree other platforms like Analogue and other groups are making larger efforts for true game preservation.
@Medic_Alert Well I mean, physical game preservation makes less sense for companies than digital because they can't keep producing e.g. PS1 or GameCube games physically forever since demand will eventually become too low that it's not worth it anymore. I think it makes more sense to focus on digital because you don't have to worry about constantly manufacturing more copies, the material is always available online for purchase. That's how it's been with PC all this time after all. Servers can be shut down on PC as well and suddenly there are no games to purchase. Not to mention that physical games will eventually deteriorate. So there are definitely pros and cons with both methods, but overall I think digital preservation is the best approach. Which is why it's important to have a universal system. If Sony decides to shut down the PS3 and Vita store, then we are all out of luck. But if Microsoft shuts down the 360 store, then we can at least play a good amount of our 360 games on One and Series X/S.
Considering the backwards compatability program has been discontinued you'd think Microsoft would make the tools necessary to implement backwards compatability (at least those that couldn't be abused by the public developer program / mode) available to developers to aid in porting older games to the Xbox Series X|S.
@Medic_Alert MS leading the way no doubt, and to be praised. What they have done with the emulation and features like FPS boost, X enhanced etc. are brilliant and make everyone else look bad by comparison. But you were also 100% right that it isn't true backwards compatibility for Xbox and 360. That isn't a hot take, that's a fact, the two views are compatible.
The question is how much that matters? To the vast majority I suspect not very much. There will be those that want true backwards compatibility, to be able to play offline with no servers and their original discs etc. but I think it's likely too much to ask and is better handled by external groups.
How this is all handled as we are in a majority digital, and especially subscription based model, will be interesting to see. I hope we don't see things like Forza Horizon 4 delisted online soon due to licensing rights. We lose most of the control with the digital model.
E.g. I was late to the series I bought the FH3 Ultimate pack when it was being delisted and wrongfully assumed it included the DLC packs. It didn't. Those are lost to time and you cannot get them now. I played the Hot Wheels one at my mates and think it's my favourite bit of Forza content. A real shame that it had a shelf life of less than 4 years. That isn't good enough really.
@blinx01: I wouldn't rely on Switch cartridges for too long if I were you — they (like all forms of Flash/hybrid-Flash memory) have a lifespan of about 20 years, give or take.
@themightyant "Now we just need Nintendo to get onboard so we don't have to buy Super Mario Bros again and again and again."
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA LOL, Good one!!
.....o....wait....ur srs??
@NEStalgia A man can dream...
I'm made up we have backwards compatibility and it's even greater that I can replay Lost Odyssey when I'm 80.
So they want game preservation but at the same time Phil Spencer is saying subscription services are best...
@themightyant Please understand.....
It's not perfect but MS is ahead of Sony (to be fair, the PS5 is an excellent PS4 bc machine) and miles ahead of Nintendo on this and the fact I can play damn near all my favorite original Xbox and 360 games in my collection, minus some sports titles, on the Series X is a huge reason I bought the console and why it's been my most played since getting it.
@UltimateOtaku91
I agree with you mostly, but personally there are a couple reasons why I let Nintendo slide on the whole backwards compatibility thing more than the other two. One, Nintendo’s new piece of hardware is usually so different from the their last that I tend to hang onto Nintendo consoles and handhelds whereas Xbox and PlayStation feel more like incremental upgrades so I get rid of the last one pretty much as soon as I get my hands on the new one. Two, and this isn’t an excuse for Nintendo, but their while online infrastructure has been behind the other guys for four generations now so I’ve kind of come to expect to be disappointed in that regard. Nintendo isn’t competing with PlayStation and Xbox as much as those two are directly competing with each other, so when I look at PlayStation’s great first party staple I used that as criticism against Xbox and when I see the amazing value of Game Pass and their backwards compatibility, I use that as criticism against PlayStation.
TLDR: Nintendo is gonna Nintendo. As long as they keep putting out banger first party titles I’m going to buy their hardware.
what about wrestlemania 21?
I think backwards compatibility games from the OG Xbox and the 360 should be playable on the systems. Some cool ones I would like to see are some not well known ones. Xtreme Volleyball /Xtreme Volleyball 2, Zoids, also Chrome Hounds and Armored Core games and some others like Steel Battalion and Gregs paintball etc. games that required multiple player servers for certain games make them compatible with the updates for the systems.
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