Why the Xbox backwards compatibility program ended: we explain it to you

We explain what led Microsoft to abandon the Xbox backwards compatibility program.

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Many have been wondering why the Xbox backward compatibility program came to an end. For several years, we had an internal Xbox team that was in charge of validating Xbox and Xbox 360 game versions to make them work on Xbox One and later on Xbox Series.

The team worked constantly for years to bring us the maximum number of Xbox and Xbox 360 games to the new consoles. In total, the program brought back over 700 games, combining the original Xbox and Xbox 360. All of them, with an adaptation effort behind, some with improvements to take advantage of the new consoles’ capabilities, but everything had an end and the program didn’t end by choice, it ended for compelling reasons.

Reasons why the Xbox backward compatibility program ended

Yes, we’re going back a bit, the first problem comes from the jump from Xbox 360 to Xbox One. Microsoft didn’t bet on making Xbox One retrocompatible by hardware, like Xbox 360 or the original Xbox, something that made the function that arrived later much more laborious and with many more complications.

Starting from that base, we reach the point of licenses. Although it may seem surreal, Microsoft had to have the approval of the editors of the games in question, and in many cases, also deal with other bureaucratic problems with extinct studios or that simply made it impossible to recover their games. All this made the range of games available to add to the program dwindling.

Over 700 Xbox backward compatible games available

However, we’re talking about over 700 recovered games and for those who don’t know, Microsoft exhausted all the licenses and options it had to adapt to the last game it could. Members of the team that worked on backward compatibility explained that they squeezed everything they had in their hands until there were no more games to bring. 

It’s true that right now there are games from Microsoft itself that have been left behind, but not because they wanted to, simply because it’s very complex to recover a game like, for example, Project Gotham Racing 4 and revive licenses and everything that comes with it, in addition to the adaptation work behind it, maybe it’s easier to release a new version of the same game. This example can be applied to more games from Activision like Singularity, another of the most desired, but that to this day and after the purchase of Activision, remains in limbo. I know there are many more examples, but I’ve mentioned two of the most notable ones, so you know it’s not just a matter of wanting to, but of being able to.

I don’t know if in the future Microsoft will recover any more games. Right now, the option that seems most likely to me is to adapt the digitally available Xbox 360 games for ROG Xbox Ally X. One of the features that has been making the most noise in recent days.