There have been some folks in the past that doubted the power of backward compatibility, insisting that gamers were in the mood to check out new experiences instead. But a new report from Microsoft suggests that there’s more lasting value with backward compatibility than most people may expect.

According to their report, the service has managed to rack up over 840 million hours of play since it first began a few years ago, across a variety of Xbox 360 games. (Original Xbox games weren’t mentioned, but they’re likely to be popular as well.)

Bill Stillwell, the lead program manager for the Xbox platform, noted, “We’re thrilled with the continued excitement for Xbox One Backward Compatibility – the community has played more than 840 million hours of Xbox 360 games on Xbox One. Compatibility is important to Xbox, to developers and their games, and our community.”

He continued, “Preserving the art form of video games is part of our DNA, which is why Xbox One is the only console designed to play the best games of the past, present and future. We’re excited to continue to deliver on our vision of compatibility and grow our current Backward Compatible library, which includes more than 460 Xbox 360 games, 11 Xbox One X Enhanced Xbox 360 titles, and 13 Original Xbox games."

According to Stillwell, each Xbox One user has played at least 24 hours of backward compatible content on the system, although specific games weren’t mentioned.

As far as what’s next for the program, Microsoft will more than likely continue adding compatible games to the service. Hit titles like Split/Second and Vanquish have been making the rounds, and another batch of original Xbox games should be debuting sometime this spring, although specific titles haven’t been revealed just yet.

Posted: Mar 02, 2018 10:21 am
Last Updated: Mar 02, 2018 10:23 am
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: http://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/03/01/xbox-one-backward-compatible-gamer-record-xbox-360/