Microsoft is now working full-time on the next-gen Xbox, which isn’t going to ignore backwards compatibility at all.

„The Xbox One is the most compatible console I’ve ever had. When we thought about our design for Project Scarlett, we definitely wanted to make sure that we were compatible across all the generations. Not just with the games, but with the accessories, obviously Xbox Live will continue and you are who you are across the whole ecosystem. It’s really us respecting the purchases our players have made on our platform. Some of these games people bought a decade ago in our digital ecosystem, and you’re going to turn on Project Scarlett and the entitlement is going to be there, you can go download the game and play. And as gaming goes from all-physical to a combination of physical and digital, I think us respecting the purchase people have made at no charge allowing them to continue playing their games – and in many cases those games play the best and look the best on the new generation which frankly isn’t easy to do – is just something I wanted to continue to do with Project Scarlett,” Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, told Inside Xbox. (Sony should take notes of this approach!)

We don’t know how Microsoft will pull off supporting the three previous generations yet – currently, with the Xbox One, you can either access the games via Xbox Live, or use your game disc, and via it, access a supported version online to play. They might be following a similar formula with the next-gen hardware as well.

„Project Scarlett will have an ODD [optical disc drive]. During the Xbox E3 Briefing, we announced that thousands of games across four console generations will look and play best on Project Scarlett. We also continue our commitment to compatibility by ensuring your Xbox One gaming accessories and Xbox career will also move forward with you. We have nothing further to share at this time,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. (Supporting accessories is also a consumer-friendly approach.) „Yeah [physical discs are part of our future]. We know because we see it, that more and more players are buying digital. We think the experience in certain instances, specifically if I am away from my console and everything is on my hard-drive with the entitlements are all there, there are some scenarios that are easy. But we know that people still have discs,” Spencer added.

Microsoft focusing on the Xbox (Project) Scarlett is felt elsewhere: they announced the final twenty-three Xbox One backward compatibility games, as the Redmond-based company is now concentrating on the next-gen hardware instead. Here are the last Mohicans:

Xbox:

• Armed and Dangerous
• Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb
• Spinx and the Cursed Mummy
• Splinter Cell
• Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
• Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
• Splinter Cell: Double Agent
• Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict

Xbox 360:

• Asura’s Wrath
• Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
• Enchanted Arms
• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
• Far Cry Classic
• Far Cry Instincts: Predator
• Infinite Undiscovery
• Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
• Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
• Skate
• Star Ocean: The Last Hope
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
• Syndicate
• Too Human (ingyenes)
• Unreal Tournament III

And finally, the last Xbox One X Enhanced titles with more/better performance on this console:

• Banjo-Kazooie
• Banjo-Tooie
• Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
• Kameo: Elements of Power
• Perfect Dark
• Perfect Dark Zero
• Viva Pinata
• Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise

So the next-gen Xbox, which will launch in the 2020 Holiday season, is now having more attention than ever before. Until then, have a dev diary about the future of backwards compatibility.

Source: Gamesindustry, DualShockers, Gematsu