Microsoft also plans to include Xbox and Xbox 360 games in the [Xbox] Game Pass subscription service.

„We started on day one of the program. We’ve been working on the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S since 2016. Before we even had silicon, we would take performance captures of existing games and run them on a simulator of the next-generation chip. That allowed us to identify potential issues in the silicon before it was even produced. With every iteration, we tested to make sure games continued to run. Then we would look at how to enhance some of these titles. That’s where techniques like Auto HDR came from,” Jason Ronald, Xbox Director of Program Management, told Inverse.

He also revealed how the backwards compatibility testing process worked: „We’ve gone through test passes for about the last year, which can take 16 to 24 hours for a single game. We had an army of testers, approximately 500 of them, who went through all of them based on a priority order. If they found issues, our backwards compatibility team would fix that, with no work by developers. The onus is on us to make sure that these games continue to work.”

And finally, Ronald confirmed the chance of adding Xbox and Xbox 360 games to the Game Pass, but there are some hurdles: „Some of the challenges are technical, but more often than not it comes down to licensing. In some cases, the developer or publisher doesn’t exist anymore. Even tracking down who we need approvals from can be very, very difficult.”

The Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S will thus support all previous Xbox generations. The latter console got in the hands of a lucky customer a week early – he shared on Reddit that the XSS has a 512 GB SSD, but only 364 GB can be used after the Xbox Series S’ operating system and system files are taken into consideration. That means 3-4 games and the SSD is full!

The Xbox Series consoles launch on November 10 worldwide.

Source: WCCFTech, PCGamer

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