Before the Xbox One was announce I said to myself, all Microsoft needs to do is to come and say, “Everything that you own on Xbox 360, works on the Xbox One”. All my friends and family members would of ran out to get it on release date. However we know that did not happen for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One when they were released. Now just over 1.5 yrs after released the strategies between the two consoles have been set.
PlayStation Now with a streaming service having gamers rent or subscribe for access to PS3 games, which they have been adding about 5 games a month. However the big complaints on the apparent latency, streaming quality and high rental process have put PS Now out of primetime for some. Now Phil Spencer comes out at E3 2015 and announces true native backward compatibility (through emulation of the Xbox 360) for the Xbox One. What is more your discs will work in the Xbox One, granted, if the game is supported, which Microsoft states that will have more than 100 games when this launches. The big statement from Microsoft was “We will not charge your for the games you own,” and being a preview member that is all true. Scroll to your ready to install games and Xbox 360 games (those you owned digitally) just show up ready to download.
While Xbox One backwards compatibility is a game changer announcement there are 3 distinct area were backward compatibility blows the doors off the competition and gives a huge advance moving forward.
Free Games with Purchase
We have already seen this with the recent E3 announcements that Fallout 4 will include Fallout 3 and Rainbow Six Siege will come with Rainbow 6 Vegas 1 and 2 with purchase. We seen Sony do something like this with pre ordering God of War 3 but they are having you rent GOW 1 and 2 for 90 days free and streaming it (which I mentioned the challenges with this). But image if Microsoft makes this a thing where their preorder’s include a Xbox 360 game natively running on your Xbox One. For example pre order Crackdown trilogy bundle, you get Crackdown (original), Crackdown 2 and the new Xbox One Crackdown. But this can be a huge win in the multiplatform and promote digital sales as well.
Games with Gold
Oh boy, Games with Gold just got a lot better, with Xbox One offering the smaller free games, the Xbox 360 AAA games would also come to Xbox One through backward compatibility. No cross buy or if it is available on both systems for that matter, it is a Xbox 360 game. Hint from now on everyone better download the Xbox 360 games via your PC, because they are yours forever and when they get emulated to your Xbox One library, it gets larger.
New Features in Old Games
Stream you Xbox 360 games on Twitch or on your PC though the Xbox app in Windows 10, giving you the most flexibility to your Xbox 360 collection. You can host classic gaming Twitch session right form your Xbox One, share game play, screen shots, Game DVR glitches, make video comparisons between 360 and Xbox One game, all with Upload Studio. You can play and chat with your friends who are still on Xbox 360 from the comfort of your Xbox One while snapping TV or NFL Fantasy.
The hard work needed to emulate the Xbox 360 on the Xbox One is going to give Microsoft a huge push in getting those Xbox 360 owners over and adding more value to the system. Having access to the amazing games on the Xbox 360 and bringing it to the Xbox One interface and features allows Microsoft to offer an experience that can not be match and is truly for the gamers.