Phil Spencer sort of hinted that Xbox One would be backwards compatible some day with original Xbox games. That was back in August. Now that Xbox 360 compatibility is here, is compatibility with original Xbox games on the way?
You know how things go when executives say something like this. Everyone freaks out and then someone actually involved in the development process crushes the hopes and dreams of gamers everywhere. But that’s actually not the case here. Appearing on the Inner Circle Podcast, Xbox Director of Program Management Mike Ybarra said it’s not totally out of the question.
“We’re not looking at original Xbox 1 games on Xbox One yet, and right now the focus is making more 360 games work, but I would say that nothing is impossible. [Original Xbox backwards compatibility would be] very challenging. Getting 360 to work was incredibly challenging, and really a multi-year engineering investment going all the way back to the original certainly would challenge the team,” he added. “We’re fortunate enough to have a great [backwards compatibility] engineering team, who loves to take on challenges, and I’m sure they would love that one as an opportunity to go look at.”
With the backwards compatibility feature for Xbox One live, about 100 Xbox 360 games are currently available in the program. All you have to do is prove that you already bought the game, either digitally (which happens automatically), or with a physical disc.
If backwards compatibility one day extends to the original Xbox, there are quite a few big name titles that would be cool to have: Baldurs’s Gate, BloodRayne, some of the best Dance Dance Revolution games, and one of my personal favorites—Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. We could also play Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue! Anyone with me?
