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Why Game Preservation Is So Important To Microsoft

To the people working on it, Xbox's backwards compatibility program presents a chance to preserve gaming history for future generations.

By Darryn Bonthuys on April 5, 2021 at 6:05AM PDT

One of the big advantages of owning an Xbox Series X|S console is that it isn't just a platform on which the latest games can be played on; it's also a device that celebrates the entire Xbox legacy through a huge library of backwards compatible titles. For the team that worked on this system for Xbox, it was less about placing a dollar value on older games to drum up sales and more a drive to preserve the history of video games on the new Xbox consoles.

"As we got to working on the program, I got to realize that it was much more than that," Xbox compatibility lead Peggy Lo explained to director of programming Larry Hyrb on his Major Nelson podcast.

"That these games didn't just represent like a dollar amount to somebody; it became a lot about the history of what gaming is to the fans, to the people who developed those games, and to the industry itself. These are games that influence the way that games play today. Preserving that history has become so important to the team just so that people can continue to play these games, share them with new people, and kind of celebrate that legacy there."

On Xbox Series X, users won't just have access to Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox games, but also enhanced versions of those titles. Microsoft recently introduced Xbox FPS Boost, a new upgrade for specific games that almost doubles their frame rates and has so far been implemented in Sniper Elite 4, Far Cry 4, Watch Dogs 2, UFC 4, and New Super Lucky's Tale.

Select titles from the backwards compatible library went live on Xbox Cloud Gaming--the service formerly known as xCloud--at the end of March. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can now play 16 titles from across the original Xbox and Xbox 360 on an Android device.

Sony in comparison has focused less on backwards compatibility since it launched the PS5. While its latest console is capable of playing most of the games from the PS4 library, its other platforms are slowly being sunset. The PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vita storefronts will close later this year, and Sony has also silently killed off its old web store that let users buy PS3, PSP, and PS Vita digital games.

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deactivated-64ff549d2d157

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It's a very smart idea, considering that Sony is doing the exact opposite.

Keep the library available in Game Pass, Drive the need for Emulation down, everyone's happy.

Good on Microsoft.

I only wish Nintendo would get their idiocy in line and offer something similar. Their catalogue would be incredible. The existing crap available at Switch online is a joke.

2 • 4 years ago

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Sure, I have thousands of CD-ROMs in storage, and recently recycled all but Disk1 of every floppy-based game I ever owned. ...(sheesh, Sierra!)

So things like GOG.com and Xbox BC are absolutely treasured here. In GOG's case, I keep the downloaded materials backed up alongside my personal files in both warm and cold storage. I can get rid of physical CDs, cases, and manuals, and just keep the maps & trinkets.

2 • 4 years ago

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@Pyrosa: jesus...

Upvote • 4 years ago

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Edited By phili878

The best games in gaming history (sorry for you folks that haven’t witnessed it) was 1992-2008. So anybody with half a brain sitting on unlimited cash would know to keep those games alive.

Upvote • 4 years ago

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It also means that for the next few years, Xbox owners can continue to be nostalgic of their 360 days. Old games aren’t bad. Many aren’t even that dated. They just happen to be increasingly less relevant as the industry ploughs forward.

2 • 4 years ago

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I believe backwards compatibility is important for some like to play the games of past and also even if it does not completely free them having the console the games were played for not all the games will be BC at least the major games can be played. I still have my original consoles to play the games on but they take up space so BC is great for me. Sony has their reasons and I am not going to dog them about it. I also have thier consoles as well except the PS1 and the games.

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The fact Series X is massively more powerful than Ps5 is an awesome bonus, but even if it were less powerful I’d pick it for the backwards compatibility. Most important thing to me, and Sony’s actively hostile to it for some reason.

And hell, there’s actually a solid number of Xbox classic games I haven’t played yet and still want to buy, even aside from wanting to retain access to games I already own.

3 • 4 years ago

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@wolfpup7:

Have you considered that Nintendo is the king of bringing back old games at a premium price?

Having the option to play Wiiu or Wii game on the switch would surely have an impact on all the remasters they released recently (just remember that Mario kart 8 is one of the best-selling titles of the Switch).

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Laurenriley3332

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Laurenriley3332

How many of the 250 million people who own consoles care about this? A lot of people do, but what is the percentage compared to all console users? I doubt that even 10% of the console userbase cares about backwards compatibility. The Switch lacks backwards compatibility with Wii U Wii and its sales are through the roof. PS4 sold twice as much as Xbox One, and it did not have any backwards compatibility at all. PS3 did not start selling well until after BC was removed. History has proven that most people prefer new games over old ones. Millions of people love to play old games. I still play some old games myself. However, there are more millions of people who just do not care about playing older titles. I would probably care more if I were not embarking on a new career in public speaking and trying to increase the miles I walk per week while also trying to make new friends. I cannot do it all. The PS5 will most likely be the last console that I purchase.

3 • 4 years ago

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Edited By NilsDoen

@laurenriley3332: quick google tells me xbox revenue was 41 billion usd. 10% sounds like a venture worth the investment? millions of people sound like a worthy target audience?

good thing you are embarking on a public speaking career and not one in business.

lol

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Laurenriley3332

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@nilsdoen: You are overgeneralizing. What is the revenue from? Is it from people buying old Xbox games? This is most likely not the case. If there was a huge profit to be turned from BC, why aren't Nintendo and Sony doing it? Because they are stupid while Microsoft is smart? Right. They know that they can sell the games again and make a profit. Show me the profit margin of BC, not the entire Xbox brand or how many people enjoy something. You want to talk business. How many people bought an Xbox to play old games via BC and not remastered packages. Even if we were talking remastered packages. 8.32 million people bought 3D Mario All Stars out 75 million. That is a little bit over 11% As of two years ago, Crash N Sane Trilogy has sold 10 million copies across Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. This is way less than 10% of console users as well as people who play games on PC even for the data, which is now old

More people prefer to buy newer games than to buy remasters of any degree. The numbers who will buy into BC will less than that. Microsoft is investing in all of this because for mindshare in regards to the future. Microsoft is trying to strengthen the Xbox brand by getting more people to play its games for almost no cost to the consumer but a big cost to the company. Its hope is to get as many people hooked on gamepass and its brand of games regardless of when it was from, and then jack up the price for everything little by little until people are paying substantially more than what they paid when all of these services first started. Microsoft is not making money from allowing people to play old games that they already own. All of this "goodwill" is to hook people down the road.

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@laurenriley3332: I have kids who are running through my 360 catalog via BackCompat every week "because the games exist." They're eager to try new games and have no concept of console generations (other than the extreme hassle of playing Fat Princess, which they LOVE). The games all "just work."

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Edited By MALCOLMXLAX3

@laurenriley3332: A lot of people care if you think about it with all the remakes/remasters and rereleased Nintendo games. I mean look at the ps2 the one of the most successful consoles the 3 things that stood out was 1. Graphics 2. DVD player 3. Bc compatible with ps1 games. You say people prefer new but we've really been playing the same games since mid 2000's and before (Mario, Zelda, Cod,madden,halo,god of war, ff,etc)

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Edited By deactivated-627847c518a1e

@laurenriley3332: Much, much, more than 10%. I'd say atleast 50% or more..... Retro gaming and remasters are becoming more and more popular. I play old games all the time. Most gamers do not just play only new games like you, and forget all the games that paved the way for what is being played today.....remember, 'new" does not mean better. Just like movies and music. The older is better! Lol.

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Laurenriley3332

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@soulcrusher777: I play older games too, but until sales show otherwise, BC is not really a determining factor when people buy consoles. Historically, people have bought systems without BC. Xbox One never caught up to PS4 in sales, and Microsoft has been on the BC train for six years. Let me rephrase what I have said. People might care about BC if it is given out for free, but few willing to pay more to have a BC featured console. The top selling console right now is Switch. PS5 is out Selling Xbox worldwide two to one. I am not saying things cannot change, but it is funny that the company screaming BC from the rooftops and giving all of its games away for free is last in the market. People on the internet might care, but does John Doe care? Just like everybody cared about Shenmue. The third one came out and no one bought it.

PS3 came out with full BC with PS1 and PS2 games, but no one bought it. Xbox 360 came out with BC for only 40 games on the original Xbox and everyone bought one. People care about BC as long as its free, but the second that BC makes the price of a console go up, then people just want new games. PS3 was a worse blunder than the original Xbox One, and Sony rebounded by taking out BC whereas Microsoft did not come back after adding in BC.

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@laurenriley3332: I think it's much more then 10%.

4 • 4 years ago

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@cage_92: yeah, I’d be very surprised if it’s only 10%. Most people care about backwards compatibility for all sorts of things.

3 • 4 years ago

Laurenriley3332

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@wolfpup7: Console sales do not prove it. Console sales show otherwise. Even if more people care than I guessed, they don't care enough to avoid buying a console due to the lack of it. Once consoles start flying off shelves because of BC, then companies will change their tune. BC is nice to have, but it is not a requirement for a console to sell or the main reason most people buy consoles.

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@laurenriley3332: I've always found that those who say BC is not important are typically Sony ponies.

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Laurenriley3332

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@cage_92: Sales prove that BC is not important. If the majority cared about it, All three console makers would be doing it, and they are not. When consoles with BC start outselling those without it by a wide margin, then we will see it as more common place. Console makers are not your friends. They want to make money. Xbox is still behind when it comes to sales despite being "consumer friendly." The real question will be what happens when Microsoft feels it can start charging what it really wants for all of this "goodness." The company already tried to double the price of gamepass and recanted due to backlash, but we all know what the main goal is at the end of the day. Nintendo and Sony are not as consumer friendly because they have a worldwide presence. Xbox only sells well in North America and maybe some developing countries. Sony sells equally as good in North America and exceptionally well in Europe Japan is on the decline. PS5 still manages to outsell Xbox by 23 tp 1 despite this fact. Nintendo sells well everywhere.

Microsoft is trying to broaden its market with Game Pass because it cannot compete with Sony or Nintendo with brand recognition. It needs BC to strengthen its brand. Sony and Nintendo do not need this as of yet. If Microsoft can take Europe away from Sony, then you will see a change.

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@laurenriley3332: I don't care about other countries it doesn't matter to me, MS is simply the best play place to play right now and it's starting to show. Also Japan people since last gen and even more now they don't care about gaming any where near like they used to.

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@laurenriley3332: Sales doesn't prove that bc isn't important the sales prove that you will buy a new product 🤣 Xbox is American company compared to Sony and Nintendo which are Japanese so Xbox was always gonna have a tough road in Asia and Europe but they are still making profit. Why do all 3 companies have to do the same thing??? You see Nintendo resells their old school games, Sony shutting down the stores of older consoles and pushing the ps5 on you and xbox is play from wherever.

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Laurenriley3332

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@malcolmxlax3: They don't have to do the same thing. That is my point. People are always saying Sony should do something to Microsoft, and the company does not have to Gamepass and BC would compete more with Gamefly than Sony. My point was that Microsoft's "generosity" will come back to haunt consumers down the road. This is why I like Sony's approach of "hey first party game prices are going up, deal with it" approach. Microsoft will eventually do the same thing but they are easing people into it. I hope people's present happiness is worth a price gouging future.

It is not like Sony pulled the rug out from people. Sony left the stores up for over half a decade after the system lost relevance. Everyone had ample to back up their games and saves as well purchasing games themselves. Nothing lasts forever. 10-15 years is more than enough.

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@laurenriley3332: See you still aren't getting the business side Microsoft is competing with Amazon and Google something Sony can't compete with. Xbox has basically preserved their game library thru gamepass which is why Sony "should" copy but they want you to pay for basically everything that's why they are forcing you towards a ps5. You say nothing lasts forever and gamepass will come back to bite us but no matter what it's still worth the price of 3 video games to 7 video games and people should have the options to play/buy games doesn't matter how old and that may come back to bite Sony in the ass.

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Laurenriley3332

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@malcolmxlax3: So Sony is pulling Nintendo moves. I think people need to get out of comparing game companies. We are in uncharted territory where each company is doing its own thing. Nintendo is focusing on handheld gaming. Microsoft has its service and focus on multiplayer. Sony has a focus on single player games and new IPs. Microsoft cannot compete with Sony when it comes to single player. Sony cannot compete with Microsoft when it comes to multiplayer. No one can compete with Nintendo when it comes to the handheld arena. If you are happy with eventually paying $240 a year to play games from every generation of gaming, then more power to you. I want buy and play what I want when I want, and not have absolutely everything tied to a subscription service. subscription services are nice here and there, but I do not want to feel as if I have to play X game by a certain date because it is leaving the service or my subscription is running out.

"forcing" people to buy new consoles has always been the way video games have been. In order to run new games, it requires new hardware. SNES did not play NES games, and people were fine with it. N64 did not play SNES games, and people were fine with it. Gamecube did not play N64 games, and people were fine with this. No one complains that NIntendo should be doing something similar with BC and Game Pass. Why is that? Nintendo is not doing what Microsoft is doing because are willing to pay for the same games again. Sony is not doing what Microsoft is doing because the company is focused on getting out new games first. Sony consoles have sold better when BC was not a function. PS3 sold better after BC was taken out. People could have chose to not buy a PS3 due to lack of BC, but that did not happen. PS4 did not have BC at all and it still sold insane numbers. The Xbox One never picked up in sales even after BC became a huge priority for Microsoft. What does that tell you. The internet may care about BC, but the average John Doe does not.

Until Sony sees that sales suffer due lack of BC, then the company will change its tune. I am sure Sony will eventually give the internet what it wants, but the company's top priority is to get Ratchet, Horizon, deals with Square for Final Fantasy exclusivity, and Kena out the door. After the first party studios as well release their games this year, then Sony will focus more on BC and services.

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@laurenriley3332: Nintendo does the same thing Microsoft use to do but you complained about lack of exclusives on xbox release the same few first party games. The difference is Nintendo has had loyalty for over 100 years in Asia and people look at Mario Zelda and Pokemon from their childhood that's Nintendo knowing their business. Bc wasn't available tech wise til Gameboy color and again was a popular ps2 feature and millions of people want bc on Nintendo consoles you were able to play GB and gbc on n64 via attachment and gba games on the gc. Microsoft doesn't need to compete with Sony I mean they can they have the studios now. See the problem with Sony is they are focusing on blockbuster games thus require more money to make and less margin of error so they basically have to keep going that's why they won't let go of Spiderman they need that revenue and pushing the console for the software. Nintendo couldn't sustain a model like gamepass they wouldn't want to invest that kind of money. No one wanted a ps3 cause it was expensive as hell... the second they dropped the price and fixed some software issues for the console which was an issue to develop for by a lot of studios it sold a model without bc.... You keep saying people need to stop comparing the 3 companies but why does Sony need a "counterpunch" to xbox's gamepass?

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Edited By deactivated-6475046c6040f

@laurenriley3332: The only reason Sony put BC on the PS5 is because MS forced their hand cause MS system is fully BC. If MS didn't exist you would not be able to play PS4 games on the PS5. Sony doesn't really care about their fans, they take them for granted.

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Edited By Laurenriley3332

@cage_92: These are companies, not your friends. The newest Xbox does not run all the games from every xbox platform. It only runs 40 games from the original xbox, 300 from 360, and the majority of games from Xbox One. It is already been noted that the PS5 has more BC games than the series does. I am sure that will change over time. Microsoft is doing all of these things so that when the company finally decides to do a price hike, people won't feel it. These companies want customers. They do not want fans. Stop acting like Microsoft is your friend. The company isn't. All of these consumer friendly will come back to consumer through a fee of some sort.

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@laurenriley3332: It's 577 360 that has BC not 300. I've found MS to be more friendly then Sony for a while now. Look play your PS and I'll play my Xbox.

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@cage_92: I am not arguing about which one is better. Both companies have the same goal of your money and neither one is more consumer friendly than the other one. Sony is just more straight forward about asking people to pay straight up while Microsoft is sugar coating everything stringing people along until they are paying more for the same thing. There are no champions here. Microsoft got people to pay to play online. They also got people to buy a console with a high failure rate. People complained the PS3 was too pricey, but paid to get their 360 fixed 3 times. Game prices will be standardized to $70, and customers will start paying it if they want to play new games right from the start and claim ownership. Microsoft gave people training wheels for awhile, but once they are gone, they are gone. Have a great night.

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@laurenriley3332: Dude PS3 was a crap console, Even though the PS3 eventfully outsold the 360 it doesn't matter everybody and their grandmothers knew that over 90% of the multiplatform games ran better and looked better on the 360 and developers hated working the PS3. In north America the 360 sold more then the PS3. I only had two 360's but that's because I wanted one with a bigger HDD.

and everything else you said....if you say so boss.

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@dodokarato: ok

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The way Microsoft is handling BC is objectively good.
There's no other way to see it, with any sanity.

8 • 4 years ago

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