Microsoft just announced that Xbox One will soon be able to play Xbox 360 games, which gives it backwards compatibility with the previous generation hardware for the first time. Microsoft’s Phil Spencer announced the news on stage at the E3 2015 Xbox keynote today, and the crowd went wild.
This will work with over 100 titles beginning this holiday season, with 100 more to follow later. “Our goal is to deliver the largest games library on Xbox One,” Spencer said. Microsoft is developing patches for individual games, and this will work both for online titles and retail discs (with a download).
Backwards compatibility has been a top ask from Xbox One owners in the past, so it’s obviously great news to see this happening. It’ll also mean people won’t have to re-buy their old favorites, something which has been spurring many HD remakes.
Today, there’s already an initial set of backwards compatible titles available for Xbox preview program members.