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GRTV News - Xbox seems to be doubling down on back-compatibility
Under the new moniker of Xbox Classics.
Audio transcription
"Hello everyone and welcome back to another GRTV News episode.
Today we're going to be talking a little bit about Xbox and specifically backwards compatibility because a new rumour has done the rounds as of late suggesting that backwards compatibility, despite seemingly being at a point where it seems like Xbox are quite happy with what they've done with it already, looks like they're going to expand on it even further, really double down on it."
"So let's take a look at what's happening and yeah we'll circle back afterwards.
Rumour Xbox plans major backwards compatibility expansion under Xbox Classics banner.
Plenty of classics are coming back in enhanced versions thanks to a new push to celebrate Xbox's 25th anniversary."
"So there has been a lot of talk about Microsoft's backwards compatibility for the next generation with claims this week from normally reliable sources that backwards compatibility would be something extra special with the next Xbox.
Apparently this will be hardware based rather than emulation and the other day this seemed to be confirmed by Xbox boss Sarah Bond who said, together with AMD, we're advancing the state of art in gaming silicon to deliver the next generation of graphics innovation to unlock a deeper level of visual quality and immersive gameplay and player experiences enhanced with the power of AI, all while maintaining compatibility with your existing library of Xbox games."
"Now a few more details on the matter have emerged from insider and leaker Extasis, thanks pure Xbox, who has shown a surprising knack for making revelations in the past.
In his latest YouTube video he says that Microsoft is working on greatly improved backwards compatibility for Xbox and Xbox 360 in a service called Xbox Classics, although the name is not yet finalised."
"The idea is that this will allow us to enjoy games from Microsoft's first two consoles with better graphics than before and greater stability.
In addition, the service will work across all Xbox devices including the portable Xbox Ally and will support Game Pass as well."
"What Xbox is working on is a new advanced emulation platform designed to run classic Xbox 360 and original Xbox titles with stability and graphical improvements, full integration with Game Pass PC, current consoles, portable devices like the ROG Ally and of course the cloud."
"This fits in well with Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer's recent statement that it's going to be a really special year for Xbox next year.
The feature will supposedly be rolled out in 2026 when Xbox celebrates its 25th anniversary and Extasis believes that it may happen in two phases."
"The goal of this new service is explained as follows.
The goal as I understand it is not just to bring back nostalgia but for these video games to be played better than ever, even on portable hardware like the ROG Xbox Ally and the cloud, on a smart TV or on a mobile phone."
"And that sounds pretty appealing.
There are tons of classics for Xbox, Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic, The Elder Scrolls 3, Morrowind, Jade Empire, Project Gotham Racing 2, Splinter Cell, Chaos Theory, Panzer Dragoon, Orta and Halo Combat Evolved to name a few and Xbox 360, The El Classico, Viva Pinata, Cameo, Elements of Power, Banjo-Kazooie, Nuts and Bolts, Blue Dragon, Project Gotham Racing 4, Fable 3 and Halo 3 to name a few."
"So being able to enjoy this library enhanced on a sunny beachfire Game Pass on Xbox Ally doesn't sound too bad, does it?
So yeah, Xbox doubling down on backwards compatibility probably shows they've had a bit of a breakthrough in the technology because again it was getting to a point where it was like this is it with backwards compatibility."
"We've enhanced all these former titles and we've brought loads of them up to this improved standard and now we're kind of happy with it.
But it does look like they've gone, you know what, there's a really big market for backwards compatibility stuff and really well done backwards compatibility stuff and we now know how to do it even better thanks to this incorporation of AI."
"So we'll have to see how this all rolls out and how this plays in practice.
It's a bit of a steady second half of 2025 for Xbox because they've had a really strong first half with big titles like Avowed, Doom the Dark Ages, South of Midnight, and later this year they do have The Outer Worlds 2 and yes they do have Grounded 2 launching in July but otherwise it's quite a steady second half of 2025 for Xbox but 2026 looks like it's going to be an absolutely enormous one so you can kind of see why they're pacing themselves in a way I guess."
"And if this is true, again this isn't a rumour of the same scale of like they're going to drop Halo, the next Halo in 2026 or something, this is a rumour that you can quite candidly believe that Xbox is going to be further enhancing its backwards compatibility support.
So it does seem likely that's probably one of the things they'll do to celebrate the sort of 25th anniversary of all things Xbox and to give access or better access to some of these classic titles from Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles."
"But again as we know more about this we'll be sure to keep you posted and updated so just stay tuned and yeah as soon as we know more we'll feed you back the information.
But that's all the time I have so I hope you enjoy the rest of your Friday, enjoy your weekend and I'll see you all on the next GSTV News on Monday."
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