Microsoft’s Xbox One can run circles around its predecessor in terms of processing power … so why can’t it play the same games? As it turns out, it can. During its E3 2015 press conference, Microsoft announced backward compatibility that will allow you to play Xbox 360 games on your Xbox One.
According to the company, developers will not need to port their Xbox 360 games over to the Xbox One, since the process is automatic. Customers will have two ways to load old titles. If they bought an Xbox 360 game through Xbox Live, they’ll be able to simply re-download it on the Xbox One. If they own a game on a disc, the Xbox One will copy it to its hard drive, but still check for the physical disc before launching the game. Old Xbox 360 games will be able to take advantage of new Xbox One features, like taking in-game screenshots.
As for which Xbox 360 games will get the backwards compatibility treatment, Microsoft looks to release backward-compatible titles in waves. The first wave includes Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Hexic HD, Kameo, Mass Effect, Perfect Dark Zero, Small Arms, Super Meat Boy, Toy Soldiers, and Viva Piñata, among others. You can check out the complete first wave here, but based on the above screenshot found on Neogaf, we should expect Halo: Reach, Halo 3: ODST, Borderlands, Gears of War, and Alan Wake, as well as other titles, released in future waves.
Xbox 360 backwards compatibility will be available for Xbox Preview users today, with general Xbox One owners getting the feature in a system update later this year.
