Feature: ‘Retro Classics’ Raises Questions About The Future Of Xbox Backwards Compatibility
By Xbox Retro Classics was an enjoyable revelation when it made its debut at no additional cost on Xbox Game Pass earlier this week, allowing us to indulge in a multitude of classic Activision titles that were not anticipated to be accessible on Xbox.
Nonetheless, since this initiative is streaming-based thanks to the wonderful team at Antstream Arcade, it provokes inquiries regarding the future of Xbox backwards compatibility – particularly in light of a recent statement from Team Xbox.
On Wednesday, when Xbox Retro Classics was initially introduced, the official statement on Xbox Wire referred to the service as “a step in our commitment to game preservation and backwards compatibility”. Here’s a glimpse:
“This initiative represents a step in our dedication to game preservation and backwards compatibility, enabling players to enjoy numerous timeless games on modern devices.”
This seems notably significant, at least to me. First off, there’s an implication here that Xbox backwards compatibility could soar far beyond the existing assortment of original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One titles in the future, possibly rendering thousands of games from the ’80s, ’90s, ’00s (and later) playable on Xbox consoles.
With this, Xbox could easily claim the finest backwards compatibility suite the console landscape has ever witnessed, greatly outpacing what Nintendo and PlayStation can provide. Indeed, Antstream is also available on PlayStation, but this entire Xbox Retro Classics endeavor implies that Microsoft holds a deeper interest in the program.
Yet, therein lies further uncertainty. If Xbox refers to a streaming-based initiative as a “step in our commitment to game preservation and backwards compatibility”, does that signify we might anticipate fewer options for native downloads moving forward? Additionally, it has previously been indicated that Xbox has “reached the limit” for integrating native original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles into current consoles, so is cloud streaming their method for overcoming this challenge?
For what it’s worth, here’s what Xbox communicated after the final backwards compatibility installment in 2021:
“Though we remain dedicated to preserving and enhancing the art of games, we have come up against the limit of our capacity to add new titles from the past to the catalog due to licensing, legal, and technical restrictions.
We might encounter a scenario where Xbox states, “look, we can’t add these original Xbox and Xbox 360 games to backwards compatibility for all these reasons, but we can stream them through the cloud via an emulation service”. Would that be practical? Would it achieve popularity? I suspect it would ultimately be quite polarizing.
What I genuinely hope doesn’t occur is that the next Xbox console exclusively accommodates some Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S titles through native downloads, while the remainder has to be streamed via the cloud. There’s no indication that this will be the case, but Microsoft has been quite fond of the cloud recently – and it seems like an easier strategy for the company.
The reassuring news is that Xbox has formed a “game preservation and forward compatibility” team within Microsoft over the last year, and they are actively recruiting for it at this moment. How backwards compatibility will be executed for the upcoming generation of Xbox remains to be seen, but this team is evidently dedicating substantial effort to resolving it.
What are your views on this? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.