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Xbox Boss Phill Spencer Explains Why Backwards Compatibility Is So Important

October 4, 2017 by Jordan Coetsee

Phil Spencer sees the value in keeping old games alive.

If you haven’t noticed it yet, Xbox One has a backwards compatibility program, this basically allows you to play your old Xbox 360 games on your current generation console. It’s a pretty cool feature, both rewarding fanboys of the company for sticking with Xbox, and allowing you to replay your older titles, generally with a couple of enhancements.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer spoke to Wired recently, backwards compatibility is important to preserve the older games for new players, that and it also functions as a way for publishers to get more cash out of their old assets.

“I see games as an art form,” Spencer said. “Console games can get lost when hardware generations go away. It can become more challenging to play the games of our past,” Spencer said. “There’s something to be learned from experiencing what I played as a kid. There’s good business there for the content owners, but as players, it’s nice to be able to understand how our artform has progressed.”

The list of supported titles is actually pretty comprehensive, with the most recent addition being 4 Halo titles.

What games do you play on the backward compatibility program? Let us know in the comments below.

 

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