But don’t count on it either
It’s safe to say that backward compatibility has been a big hit for Microsoft and the Xbox One. Usage statistics haven’t been released (and if I had to guess, I’d wager that they’re fairly low) but it’s an important bullet point nevertheless. On Xbox One, you can play a lot of your games that you own on Xbox 360. That’s a claim that the competitors can’t make about their platforms.
But, the backward compatibility may not stop at the last generation. Xbox head Phil Spencer recently responded to a question on Twitter about the possibility of original Xbox games still making their way to Xbox One. “We haven’t ruled it out, but we aren’t working on it right now. I’d like to find the time to do it,” he said.
It’s not exactly the kind of answer that inspires confidence but it also means it’s still on the table. This isn’t the first time Spencer addressed this question. More than a year ago, he gave a similar response but put more emphasis on building out the Xbox 360’s catalog.
Things don’t seem as if they’ve changed much in the past year in this regard. Spencer and Xbox would still like to introduce those original Xbox games to the newest console. But, it’s not a priority either. It’d be a nice touch for those who have been long-committed to the Xbox brand, but it’s certainly more important that the company focuses the bulk of its attention forward instead of backward. Especially now that it already has that aforesaid bullet point working to its advantage.
@XboxP3 [Twitter]
