Connect with us

Gaming

Xbox One Backwards Compatibility is Backwards, Says MS Exec

Published

on

Don Mattrick, head of Microsoft’s Xbox division recently said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that he doesn’t see a problem with consoles not having backwards compatibility as gamers don’t often take advantage of it.

Mattrick claims that only five percent of gamers play older games on new consoles, which doesn’t justify the cost of building in backwards compatibility. In his eyes it makes more sense to put that effort into making the new console better.

“If you’re backwards compatible, you’re really backwards,” Mattrick said.

To back up Mattrick’s statements social media research group Fizziology said it found that only 12 percent of potential Xbox One customers would be unhappy if it lacked backwards compatibility.

Read: Microsoft Xbox One vs. Sony PlayStation 4

Xbox_One

Microsoft’s current console, the Xbox 360 broke backwards compatibility with the first Xbox when it came to store shelves back in 2005. Select Xbox games did work on the Xbox 360 through software emulation, but it seems that Microsoft found very few gamers that actually used the feature.

So far Microsoft hasn’t announced any plans to use software to make Xbox 360 games to work on the Xbox One. Gamers who want to play those games will want to keep their older console around. That includes both disc-based games and Xbox Live Arcade games.

The Xbox One doesn’t render the Xbox 360 useless, however, as Microsoft said during the Xbox Reveal event that it would talk about the future of the Xbox 360 at E3 next month.

Microsoft isn’t the only one breaking backwards compatibility. The Sony PlayStation 4 won’t play PlayStation 3 games, though Sony said it will try to find a way to make it possible to play PS3 games using its Gaikai cloud gaming technology.

The only recent console that supports backwards compatibility is the Nintendo Wii U which will play Wii games. The Wii U is closer in technology to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, however.

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Kevin Menzel

    05/23/2013 at 5:49 am

    The problem with this thinking is that the XBOX 360 lasted for 8 years and counting. That’s a much larger game investment than people had in the original XBOX. And backwards compatibility could stave off an Apple bid for the living room which seems to me a much bigger risk than the PS4 to the success of XBone.

  2. Bobby mirral

    05/23/2013 at 7:31 am

    The problem is im not F***** buying an Xbox ONE if i cant play GTA V on it because it isnt coming to the next generation consoles. I would love to buy it and then obviously get an xbox 360 version of GTA V and play rather than having to keep my 360 to play it because its not being ported to Xbox ONE.

  3. Patrick

    05/23/2013 at 9:31 am

    people have been buying xbox 360 games for so long now i myself have 154 games and with a few new realeases that could easily reach 160 xbox 360 games. now they’re telling me if my xbox 360 stops working i cant get it fixed so all those games are useless? if playsation can have backwards compataility why is it so difficult for xbox? also what is with the focus on social media stuff? if i want to check facebook or search the internet or use skype thats why i have a computer i get an xbox to relax and play games. all we are doing is using up hardrive space and proccessing power so people can use that stuff on an xbox. most people that use those things arent real gamers. xbox needs to listen to their hardcore clientelle we are the voice of true gamers not these people who get it just so they can use their tv for skype and facebook

    • Ash

      07/10/2013 at 3:35 pm

      Well said

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.