Microsoft has announced that the Xbox One will receive backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games, starting later this year. Owners of both physical and digital copies of last-generation console games will be able to play them on the current hardware, and there's no work required on the part of developers, meaning we'll likely see a whole lot of titles become compatible.
The inability to play games from Xbox 360 or PS3 titles on newer, current generation consoles has been one of the biggest complaints from gamers since the PS4 and Xbox One were announced back in 2013. While Sony's PlayStation Now streaming service has started to tackle the issue, Microsoft has attacked it head on at this year's E3, announcing backward compatibility, with over 100 titles available this holiday.
Carried over your Xbox Live account from the 360 to the One? As soon as games become available through the new service, they'll show up in your library, ready to download. Furthermore, the new feature won't just benefit owners of digital Xbox 360 games, but also those with physical copies. According to Microsoft, you'll simply slide in the Xbox 360 disk and a digital version of the game will start downloading.
Developers won't need to actively port their games over to the current generation system, but will simply have to approve their titles for backwards compatibility. Members of Microsoft's Xbox One preview program can take advantage of the feature now (though it's unclear which titles are currently supported), and it will become available to everyone this holiday.
Source: Microsoft
