Microsoft has released details about how Xbox Series X backwards compatibility works, calling the new Xbox "the most compatible next-gen console." In an article on Xbox Wire, Jason Ronald, director of program management for Xbox Series X, revealed that the Xbox Series X will launch with thousands of games, across four generations of Xbox. Not only that, but these games will "play better than ever" thanks to Microsoft's new HDR reconstruction technique and Xbox Series X's fast resume feature. Plus, the powerful Xbox Series X specs will allow for some Xbox Series X-compatible titles. older versions run at higher resolutions or double the frame rate. "As players, we also know how important it is to preserve and respect our gaming heritage," Ronald wrote in the post. "Your favorite games and franchises, your progress and achievements, as well as the friendships and communities you build through play, should evolve with you through the generations. Not only that, your favorite accessories and peripherals should also evolve with you."
Custom processor is key
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(Image credit: Microsoft) According to Ronald, the same team that brought backwards compatibility to Xbox One is doing the same for Xbox Series X. The technicalities have made this job for Xbox Series X a little more difficult, but the custom processor of the next generation console has been specially designed to combat this problem and allow us to enjoy titles from all Xbox generations in a seamless way. "Maintaining compatibility is a huge technical challenge as fundamental system and chip architectures progress from generation to generation," says Ronald. "Developers heavily optimize their games based on a console's unique capabilities and performance to provide the best experience for their players. To make the Xbox Series X our most compatible console, major innovations in "processor design" were required. as well as the unique Xbox operating system and hypervisor design at the heart of our next-generation platform." Ronald also revealed that the Xbox team has logged more than 100,000 hours of gaming testing on Xbox Series X, and the Team members now use Xbox Series X as their primary console."By the time we start this holiday season, the team will have spent over 200,000 hours making sure your game library is ready for you to commit to right away," Ronald said.
Increased compatibility with previous versions
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(Image credit: Lionhead Games) Not only will we be able to enjoy thousands of backwards compatible games on the Xbox Series X from its launch, but these games will apparently play better than ever. The Xbox Series X will be able to run backwards-compatible games in native mode, each game taking full advantage of Xbox's new processor, GPU, and SSD. "It means that all titles run at the maximum performance for which they were originally designed, far higher performance than games on their original launch platform, which translates to higher and more stable frame rates and rendering at your maximum resolution and visual quality", explains Ronald. "Backwards compatible titles also see significant reductions in in-game load times compared to the massive jump in performance from our custom NVME SSD powered by the Xbox Velocity architecture." Games that are backwards compatible will not only run better, they will also look better. The Xbox Series X will provide an HDR reconstruction technique that will automatically add HDR support to games, without affecting performance. In addition, the Xbox Series X's fast resume feature will also be compatible with backwards compatible games, allowing gamers to jump into games instantly, resume where they left off, or jump between games. transparently. According to Ronald, these advancements do not require any additional work from the developers and will rather happen at the platform level. The team is also working on new techniques that will allow certain backwards compatible titles to run at higher resolutions and even double the frame rate.
An Xbox story at your fingertips
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(Image credit: Microsoft) It currently looks like the Xbox Series X is the most compatible next-gen console. The new Xbox will not only be backwards compatible with generations of Xbox games, but we also know it extends to Xbox One accessories. Sony's plans for compatibility with the PS5 are largely unknown to us, however. We know that the PS5 will be able to play "almost all" of the best PS4 games at launch, but the company hasn't revealed whether backwards compatibility will extend beyond that. Sony hasn't had a great backward compatibility history to date. While early versions of the PlayStation 3 could play PS2 titles, the console was eventually able to play original store-bought PlayStation One titles. With the PlayStation 4 generation, Sony has made a big bet on PS Now to bring some of the gameplay back in terms of backwards compatibility. PlayStation Now allows gamers to stream select games from PS2, PS3 and PS4. Originally a streaming-only feature, PlayStation Now offers some PS4 games to download, but those with slow internet speeds don't need to apply and even those with good connections will find that input lag can cause problems in more reaction-based games. . Meanwhile, Xbox One currently supports 575 Xbox 360 titles and 41 original Xbox titles. It doesn't cover the thousands of games in the Xbox Back catalog, but it looks like Microsoft is trying to fix this with the Xbox Series X. We hope to hear more about Xbox Series X backwards compatibility in the coming months, with the release date. launch of the new Xbox getting closer. I hope we get a taste of older Xbox games that we can dive into on one of Microsoft's monthly Xbox 20/20 streams.