It's no secret that backwards compatibility on Xbox One has helped Microsoft regain quite a bit of momentum. While Sony stubbornly refuses to implement a way for gamers to play their last-gen games on current hardware, Microsoft has - and, while it took quite a bit longer than most people would have expected, most fans are just happy that such a system exists. As it stands, the Xbox 360 is now a thing of the past...and, for many, that means it's time for an upgrade.
That being said, the Xbox 360 isn't the first console that Microsoft has left behind: the Original Xbox helped create the modern gaming industry as we know it, and yet, Microsoft hasn't done much to commemorate its first console. Sony's backwards compatibility may be non-existent, but at least gamers can download PlayStation 1 games to newer hardware - unfortunately, Microsoft's never really offered its own take on a similar service.
Now, with Xbox 360 games coming to the Xbox One, some gamers are asking: could Original Xbox games ever come to Microsoft's latest machine? Well, according to Xbox engineering director Mike Ybarra (via The Inner Circle Podcast), it'd be tough...but not necessarily impossible.
"We're not looking at original Xbox games on Xbox One yet. Right now, the focus is making more Xbox 360 games work. [It'd be] certainly very challenging. Getting Xbox 360 games to work was incredibly challenging and really a multi-year engineering investment. Going all the way back to the original certainly would challenge the team."
With the Xbox 360's immense popularity, it makes sense that Microsoft would want to capitalize on a still-thriving fanbase - there are still millions of people out there playing Xbox 360s today. The Original Xbox, on the other hand, hasn't necessarily aged as well. Sure, the console had amazing games like Halo and Jet Set Radio Future...but would anyone really want to go back and re-live Brute Force or Breakdown?
It'll be interesting to see if Microsoft ever goes through with bringing Original Xbox games to its latest console, especially considering how much time and effort the publisher took to bring last-gen games to a current-gen system...for the time being, however, fans will just have to stick with Xbox 360 games.
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