How Xbox One Backward Compatibility Plans To Level Up
Over 100 Xbox 360 games are already available on the Xbox One via the Xbox One Backward Compatibility feature that launched alongside the New Xbox One Experience user interface overhaul. But Xbox One won’t rest. Microsoft reveals that this huge list is scheduled to grow on a monthly basis.
As of November 12, when the Xbox One Backward Compatibility feature officially launched worldwide, Thurrott wrote that more than 100 Xbox 360 titles are already playable on Microsoft’s latest-gen console, able to run both digitally-downloaded games and physical DVD copies. In addition to the most classic Xbox 360 titles like BattleBlock Theater, Castle Crashers, and A Kingdom for Keflings, a huge lineup of AAA titles that debuted on the Xbox 360 back in the day were also included in the initial lineup of Backward Compatible titles. Among these games are Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed II, the original Borderlands, all of the Gears of War titles, Mass Effect, the phenomenal Fallout 3, and the first two Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six.
Moving forward, how does the Microsoft and the Xbox Backward Compatibility team plan to level up this much-loved Xbox One feature?
Attack of the Fanboy reports that Xbox One is planning to increase the Backward Compatibility lineup on a monthly basis, meaning Xbox 360 games will continuously be ported to the Xbox One with monthly announcements. In a response to a query on Twitter by Rico Seattle, Xbox One’s Phil Spencer assures Xbox One players that the BC list will grow monthly.
@RicoSeattle We will announce news monthly, don’t have a specific date for each month’s list.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) November 27, 2015
This is another great monthly regimen to look forward to in the Xbox One, in addition to the monthly announcement of Games with Gold program for Xbox Live Gold members. As of writing, the free games still available on the Games with Gold are Xbox One’s Pneuma: Breath of Life and Knight Squad, and Xbox 360’s Dungeon Siege III.
And while Xbox One has yet to release a schedule for the Xbox 360 games coming to the Xbox One, what we know so far is that Xbox One is releasing more AAA titles to level up their current Backward Compatible library–and this means Call of Duty and more Halo.
Arguably, one of the best Call of Duty titles is Call of Duty: Black Ops, so this is a huge win for Xbox One and Call of Duty fans the world over. But Call of Duty: Black Ops did not land the Xbox One Backward Compatibility list as easy as pie. Daily Star reports that Call of Duty fans had to petition this move from Activision and Microsoft several times before it actually became a reality.
When the Backward Compatibility feature was announced for the Xbox One, Activision wasn’t one of the primary supporters included in the list. This was a huge slap in the face of many Xbox One fans, who then went to set up several online petitions in and around the Activision forums for the inclusion of the Black Ops and Modern Warfare on the service. Looks like their arduous work paid off, and the bosses have finally heard their plea. Call of Duty: Black Ops is soon coming to the Backward Compatibility program.
“We’re not looking at original Xbox games on Xbox One yet. Right now the focus is making more Xbox 360 games work. [It would be] certainly very challenging. Getting Xbox 360 games 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.”
[Image via Xbox.com]
