Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Microsoft Still Considering Xbox 360 Backward Compatibility For Xbox One
Less than a year ago, former Xbox Boss Don Mattrick said that including backward compatibility in a new console would be “really backwards.” Thankfully, there are some at Microsoft still investigating ways to play your old content on your new hardware.
At the Microsoft Build conference last week, partner development lead Frank Savage responded to an audience inquiry about plans for backward compatibility on Xbox One. “There are [plans], but we’re not done thinking them through yet, unfortunately,” he said.
The hangup is in the conversion from the PowerPC hardware powering the Xbox 360 to the x86 architecture of the Xbox One. With six months under our belt in the new generation, is this something you’re interested in Microsoft investing time in, or have you moved on?
[Source: Kotaku]
Our Take
Put simply, Microsoft has an opportunity here. If it can manage to get backward compatibility working and give users access to their digital libraries, it would be an enormous competitive advantage. Even now, it would be a show of good faith to customers.
Don Mattrick wasn’t thinking ahead to a situation in which Microsoft is playing from behind. The Kinect might not have been worth the extra $100 to some, but having access to older content (and for those new to the Xbox family a wide open, affordable library)? That might have moved more units in the earliest days of the new generation.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
