Xbox Announced Backward Compatibility on PC; Four Games Are Available for Now

Back in April, Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation at Xbox, teased that PC users would eventually be able to play original Xbox and Xbox 360 games thanks to backward compatibility feature. A few months later, Xbox has kept its promise and officially unveiled the feature.

On its official website and social media, Xbox announced the launch of backward compatibility for PC, letting users play Xbox exclusives and other titles on their platform of choice without emulators or extra software. It is another step in the company's plan to build out its own ecosystem. They also announced the first games available through PC backward compatibility: Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, and Fuzion Frenzy—playable with an Xbox Game Pass subscription or could be purchased individually. Of course, all of them have received various technical enhancements—such as support for vertical sync, full-screen mode, resolution scaling, and much more.

Introducing XBOX Backward Compatibility on PC

Play four original XBOX titles across supported PCs and handhelds today, with more on the way: http://xbx.lv/44ImsEF

As Jason Ronald explained in a blog post, backward compatibility on PC is just the first step toward deeper platform integration—the library will keep growing, giving players access to previously unavailable Xbox and Xbox 360 exclusives. It also means, after all these years, players will finally get to try games that never made it to PC but still have a dedicated fan base. These titles are the original Saints Row, Fable 2, Dante's Inferno, Lost Odyssey, and many others. The post also revealed the minimum and recommended system requirements for backward compatibility, which you can check out below:

Minimun:

• OS: Windows 11
• CPU: Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
• RAM: 8 GB
• GPU: GTX 950/AMD Radeon RX 550/Intel Arc A310

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 11
• CPU: Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• GPU: GTX 1070 Ti/Radeon RX 68005/Intel Arc A770
• GPU VRAM: 8 GB

There have also been earlier rumors that Project Helix, Microsoft's next-gen console—essentially a hybrid of console and PC—will include backward compatibility not just for Xbox and Xbox 360, but for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S too. By doing that, Microsoft plans to connect all of its devices so that users can play as many games as possible across different platforms while still enjoying a variety of gaming experiences.