This will likely be a trend
When we spoke with Xbox last month at E3, representatives for the platform-holder indicated that the newly-announced backwards compatibility would likely be a popular feature among publishers. All the major players haven’t yet weighed in with their opinion, but it looks like at least some are on-board.
The latest nod of approval comes from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. During a post-earnings financial call this morning, he said that the new Xbox One feature is “very good news for the industry.” He applauded what it means for consumers to be able to revisit their library despite jumping forward in console technology, but he also mentioned what it means for Ubisoft. “It will help some of the brands, like Splinter Cell for us, come to Xbox One, which is great,” he said.
The obvious draw for publishers is that now they have an opportunity to sell those titles again that would have been otherwise forgotten. However, in our platform demo last month, an Xbox spokesperson told us that he expects companies to follow Bethesda’s lead and start to offer older games with pre-orders of upcoming ones.
Despite having their support, Xbox still has issues to work out with the publishers. For instance, just last week, Bethesda informed us that it doesn’t know when Fallout 3 will be made backwards compatible for Xbox One. There’s a chance it won’t be ready by the time Fallout 4 releases. Still, once that initial hurdle’s cleared and the general public has access to the feature, companies will likely revere the opportunity to keep their older titles in front of an audience because it will translate to cash both directly and indirectly.
Xbox One Backwards Compatibility Praised by Ubisoft [GameSpot]
