Xbox One Backwards Compatibility Launches Next With 100+ Supported Xbox 360 Titles
In order to get Xbox One users pumped for the arrival of backwards compatibility, Microsoft’s Mike Ybarra took to Twitter to give us a heads up on what to expect:
For those asking we’ll announce the initial set of 100+ backward compatible titles on 11/9, a few days before our launch!
— Mike Ybarra (@XboxQwik) November 3, 2015
So we have less than a week before the official list is handed down to us, and a little over a week before the actual update lands. But it’s not just Ybarra’s tweet that got our attention, it’s the reply that came afterwards which offers up a supposed list of the games that will be announced next week:
@XboxQwik here it is. pic.twitter.com/q1WfjJd6co
— KRVSHM (@KRVSHM) November 3, 2015There are no surprises on that list, with popular franchises like Halo, Far Cry, Forza Motorsport, Assassin’s Creed and Gears of War well represented. Take the contents of this list with a grain of salt, but it at least seems plausible at this point.
There are two ways to take advantage of Xbox 360 backward compatibility. If you have previously purchased a compatible title via the Xbox Marketplace, it will be immediately available for you to download at no additional cost to your Xbox One console. The second option is for customers that still have their old Xbox 360 game discs laying around. If you have a compatible title handy, you only need to insert it into your Xbox One, after which a digital copy can be downloaded to your Xbox One.
These are both rather elegant solutions for those looking to hop on the backwards compatibility bandwagon, and give Microsoft some pretty impressive bragging rights over the PlayStation 4, even if it is well behind in the sales race. The very fact that Microsoft was able to enable backwards compatibility on the Xbox One even shocked Sony. "It was surprising," said stunned Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida back in June. "I didn't think it was possible. There must be lots of engineering effort. They talked about 100 games, but what kind of games will be included. Is it smaller games or big games? We don't know."
