We have a reassuring rumor about what’s coming next for Xbox.
A lot of Microsoft Gaming’s future plans continue to be confusing and perplexing. Some of the big rumors we heard about Xbox PC and Windows coming together with Xbox did not quite come together with the announcement of the ROG Xbox Ally. Some of these rumors could get quite wild – last month, extas1s claimed that Microsoft was making an Xbox emulator for Windows.
Today, there’s no new evidence of an official Xbox emulator, but there is new reason to believe Xbox gamers will continue to bring their libraries over.
Jez Corden shared this statement on Twitter when asked about backwards compatibility on the next Xbox:
Not sure, but I believe my exact quote from the XB2 Podcast from Friday (which annoyingly isn’t linked) was more something like “I’m 99.9% sure it’s planned to support your existing library.”
We traced Corden’s statement in the latest episode of the Xbox Two podcast and we’ll share it with you here. Corden said this (edited for clarity):
They’re definitely combining the development platforms to a single one. The Xbox development platform will be Windows focused moving forward, so developers will increasingly be asked to prioritize Windows versions and stuff like that for games in the future.
But, our existing games, all the games that we currently own on Xbox One, Series X, and the 360, backwards compatibility layer, all that stuff’s coming forward. So year, don’t worry about that shit.
Corden and extas1s don’t exactly share the same rumor, but it seems that their sources are talking about similar things. As we had previously speculated, it’s possible that Microsoft itself is still in the middle of discussing and debating what approach they will take with their console business moving forward. That could be a reasonable explanation for why different people who have sources in Microsoft and Xbox are hearing and sharing different things.
If there’s one thing that Xbox still has as an edge over both PlayStation and Nintendo, it would be their backwards compatibility. For all the criticism their platforms have received over the years, it’s only Microsoft that’s come up with a system that allows you to carry forward games from all previous console generations, so that you can keep playing them on your new console. Many of them have even made the switch to digital, which doesn’t destroy the disc copy of that Xbox game you already own, but gives you more options and value.
So this rumor isn’t necessarily a surprise, but it’s interesting that people are hearing different things about how this will be implemented. Microsoft almost has an embarrassment of riches on hand, because they can try so many things, and even spend on all of them at the same time. Whichever rumor turns out right (and it is possible that both can be true together) the real story here won’t be backwards compatibility itself. It will be what approach the bosses at Microsoft, between Phil, Sarah, and Matt, have decided to take for Microsoft Gaming in the future.
