Microsoft announces Xbox Backward Compatibility for PC — will let gamers play classic console games on PCs and handhelds
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Microsoft announces Xbox Backward Compatibility for PC — will let gamers play classic console games on PCs and handhelds Including the new Xbox ROG Ally lineup Xbox has announced a new Xbox Backward Compatibility for PC program, which will let gamers play a selection of classic Xbox titles on PCs and handhelds, a move the company says marks the beginning of a bigger push into Xbox game preservation. The announcement begins with four titles that can now be played on PCs and handhelds, including the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X. "This marks the beginning of a broader effort to preserve XBOX games from the past and bring them to PC over time," the company said in a blog post authored by Xbox "VP next generation" Jason Ronald. Alongside backward compatibility, the company says games will also include new features. The four titles in the announcement are: You can now buy all of these games on PC, and they're also included in all Xbox Game Pass plans. Anyone who already owns these titles digitally on console can also now play them on PC or handheld, with support for Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Crucially, this appears to be a digital-only preservation effort, so it won't help anyone who only owns physical copies of these games. Xbox has reportedly been testing a way to digitize physical games as far back as Xbox One, but that hasn't yet materialized yet. Alongside the preserved original gameplay, Xbox claims these games will let users customize graphics settings, with up to 4x resolution scaling, VSync support, Fullscreen and Windowed modes, anisotropic filtering, and enhanced anti-aliasing, with more features to come in the future. Notably, Xbox will add achievements to select original Xbox games on console and PC. Users who want to play these titles will need to meet the following system requirements: Microsoft's emphasis on preserving older games is particularly noteworthy given recent backlash against Sony over its decision to end physical games with its next console generation, and the shuttering of some of its online stores. While Xbox's digital emphasis on game preservation still can't match the solidarity of physical media preservation, the timing of this announcement seems like more than just a coincidence. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Stephen is Tom's Hardware's News Editor with almost a decade of industry experience covering technology, having worked at TechRadar, iMore, and even Apple over the years. He has covered the world of consumer tech from nearly every angle, including supply chain rumors, patents, and litigation, and more. When he's not at work, he loves reading about history and playing video games. - TerryLaze Wooooow a whole 4 games and you have to already own them digitally, look at all that preservation.Reply *enter 'the sound of music' meme here* Will be extremely interested to see if these actually are "backwards compatibility" or remakes/masters, for a lot of their previous ones you had to download a whole new version of the game. - usertests What's going on under the hood, Xenia Xemu emulator?Reply I think legal problems outweigh technical. It shouldn't be difficult to put an OG Xbox disc in Xbox Series S or PC and play it. - TerryLaze Reply Yeah, that's why I'm thinking that it's remakes, if they use an emulator you could just stick your old disk in and it would work but they make a point of it only working for digital license.usertests said:What's going on under the hood, Xenia Xemu emulator? I think legal problems outweigh technical. It shouldn't be difficult to put an OG Xbox disc in Xbox Series S or PC and play it. - thestryker Reply They aren't remakes or remasters unless titled as such. All of their backwards compatibility to date has effectively been game specific emulation and/or code recompilation. Due to this even when using a disc backwards compatibility has always required some form of downloading.TerryLaze said:Will be extremely interested to see if these actually are "backwards compatibility" or remakes/masters, for a lot of their previous ones you had to download a whole new version of the game. There's no problem either way because on the console side you can just pop in the disc to get the download. I'm not really sure why they haven't enabled this on the PC side of things unless it has to do with the authentication they use for disc drives on console.usertests said:I think legal problems outweigh technical. It shouldn't be difficult to put an OG Xbox disc in Xbox Series S or PC and play it.
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