Xbox executives have recently said that the next generation of Xbox consoles will be “the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation.” While the company is looking to what’s next for the Xbox brand, it isn’t forgetting about the console’s past.
Windows Central reports that Xbox President Sarah Bond highlighted a new, dedicated team focused on game preservation in an email detailing what’s next for Xbox. According to the report, Xbox is “building on our strong history of delivering backwards compatibility to our players, and we remain committed to bringing forward the amazing library of Xbox games for future generations of players to enjoy.”
This new team will help address fans’ concerns as the game industry shifts towards primarily digital. One of Xbox’s most anticipated titles in 2024, Hellblade 2, is ditching a traditional physical copy in favor of digital only. Access to all digital games we pay for will be vital as this shift towards digital inches closer to 100%.
The Windows Central report also suggests we could hear more about this preservation team at the Xbox Showcase, which is expected to be held in June.
There isn’t any mention of new backward-compatible games, but today’s news will leave Xbox fans wondering if the library of games playable on today’s Xbox consoles and future ones might grow as more classic games are added.
Activision published quite a few games back on Xbox, but many were licensed titles (like X-Men), so getting the backward compatibility treatment done on those might be trickier.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see what else the folks at Xbox have to say about this. With Microsoft being a major player in AI, maybe we’ll see some performance boost magic in already backward-compatible games.
The main takeaway from this news is that Xbox is ensuring that all the games that work today on Xbox will continue to do so in the future.
Keep an eye out on the Xbox Showcase to hear more about this new preservation team. This will be another big event for Microsoft, as it’ll be the first major one since they completed their acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Look for the next Call of Duty to take center stage there.
There are also rumblings that the next Gears of War will be a big part of the show. And we should get more updates on games like Flight Simulator 2024, Avowed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and more.
